RWBY-Two Sides to Every Remnant
by ShyWriter101
Summary: When an unexpected traveler from the other side of Remnant crash lands on the border of Vale, the Four Kingdoms discover that they are not the only ones on Remnant who face destruction at the hands (and many claws) of the Grimm. This traveler brings a host of new characters, Grimm forms and antagonists, as well as making new ties both positive and negative. Pairings undecided.
1. Chapter 1

_Okay, first of all, I must confess that I am writing this completely without any prior experience of the RWBY anime, apart from what I've been able to glean from other RWBY fanfics and Google. With that, I have at most a rudimentary idea of how it should be written and, since I've enjoyed most of the RWBY fics I've read so far I decided to see if I can write a story completely off the top of my head, but still sticking to the base story. Of course there will be a few slight changes to it, and one or two major changes, but this will be an interesting experience either way._

 _Also, the main story will start a few weeks before Ruby is recruited by Ozpin._

 _One final warning: the OCs in this story are going to be very powerful, with several of them being specifically written to give the good guys a chance against the likes of Cinder and Adam. I know some may not like that, but hey: from what I've read about later events the good guys are going to need the extra help._

 _With that, let's go!_

()()()()()()()()()()

-Chapter One- The Visitor

In the night skies over Remnant, peace seemed to rein…until a ship screamed through the it at lightning speeds. It was ducking and weaving as it tried to escape its pursuer, a large dragon shaped Grimm that was spitting streams of acid at it.

However, as much as it tried, the ship's luck ran out and a burst of acid impacting its engines caused it to lurch forward before beginning a frantic downward spiral.

In another part of Remnant, a bespectacled man was distracted from a cup of tea he was almost reverently sipping when his scroll, a small communications device, lit up showing a stern looking man on the other end.

"James! To what do I owe the please at this late hour?" the tea drinking man asked, reluctantly putting down his cup so that he could pick up his scroll.

"Ozpin…I'm not going to beat around the bush right now," Ironwood replied and moved his scroll so that Ozpin could see a screen that had been hidden behind him. "A few minutes ago my communications officer intercepted an airborne foreign signal, most likely from a ship of unknown origin, that was being broadcast on an open channel…" He nodded at someone off screen and a few seconds later Ozpin was able to hear what his 'friend' had discovered.

"… _.to all…this is…Ghost…!"_ an obviously male voice rang out, sounding extremely desperate. _I am cur…ued by a necrodragon! Hasty reinforcement…preciated! Lexi…! Repeat…and boost…!"_

Another voice, this one a calm female voice that had an odd tone to it, replied, _"Boosting signal…pen channel…good idea?"_

" _Just do it!"_ the first voice snapped before the recording abruptly ended.

Ironwood came back into view and looked seriously at Ozpin. "It was at that point that the signal was cut off. We're assuming that whoever it was crashed not long after."

"Do you have any idea where they may have landed?" Ozpin asked, steepling his fingers and looking thoughtful.

At this, Ironwood rolled his eyes. "I'll give you one guess…"

The other man chuckled. "Judging by that tone, I'm guessing somewhere in Vale?"

"Correct. I've already dispatched a search team to try and find the point of impact."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow at this. "Sending an Atlesian force into Vale territory at the dead of night? Whatever would the Council think about this?"

"Damn the council!" Ironwood barked. "We are dealing with a possible hostile situation that could endanger both of our kingdoms, if not all, if it isn't investigated as soon as possible!"

"A little dramatic, don't you think?" Ozpin asked mildly.

Ironwood sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose in irritation before looking Ozpin dead in the eyes. "Ozpin…the fact that we were able to pick up the signal when it was much closer to _your_ kingdom means that they were either moving at extremely high speeds, or they have one hell of a transmitter that is beyond anything any of the kingdoms have developed so far! Hell, it could even be both, so forgive me for wanting to err on the side of caution!"

Ozpin held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, James; no need to snap!" He waited until he was sure that Ironwood had calmed down slightly before continuing. "Does your team need any assistance from my end?"

"No, I sent Winter along with them, just in case," Ironwood replied. The man then paused before grudgingly adding, "Although…perhaps you could keep this incident between us for now…"

Ozpin chuckled and nodded. "How could I refuse such a kind request? However, I have one minor stipulation to add to that: please allow me to watch what transpires."

Ironwood sighed. "…Fine…I suppose it would only be 'neighbourly' if allowed that small addition. Plus, you would send those damned drones of yours if I said no so there really isn't any point in refusing."

"I'm glad that you're finally starting to learn!"

The other man sighed again, his annoyance with Ozpin growing again, before he turned back to the screen. "Let's just see what my team finds, shall we?"

()()()()()()()()

Meanwhile, as both Ironwood and Ozpin paid close attention to the cameras in their helmets, Ironwood's team had just jumped out of their dropships, known as 'Bullheads', and were fanning out. Two of the soldiers saluted quickly as a young woman, dressed in a white military uniform and who looked even more stern than her commander, walked down the loading ramp of her bullhead and surveyed the area.

"Specialist Schnee, the crash site is just past that cluster of trees!" one soldier informed her, pointing in the direction of several silhouetted trees.

Winter Schnee, one of Atlas's specialists and a favourite of General Ironwood, nodded shortly and moved to lead her team through the trees. The soldiers fell in behind her, sweeping their gazes across the environment and making sure that nothing would be able to catch them by surprise.

It wasn't long before they reached their destination: a large crater that had obviously been made only recently. There were great clouds of dust and smoke rising from it, and in the centre of the crater Winter narrowed her eyes as she saw the shape of a battered but still intact ship lying half buried in the ground.

She held up a hand, halting her team before they could make their way down into the crater and took out her scroll.

"Sir, we've found it," she informed Ironwood coolly. "It seems intact, but definitely isn't going anywhere."

"Damage report?" came Ironwood's gruff reply.

Winter quickly eyed the ship before replying. "It seems that the engines have been…melted, for lack of a better word. By what, I can't say without a closer look."

"You may proceed, but go with caution."

The white-clad woman nodded and ended the call before leading her team down into the crater. They approached the ship cautiously, stopping briefly with every shift of rock or dirt. As they slowly neared it, Winter noted that even though it seemed inert there was a quite obvious coming from several spots on its surface, as well as the fact that it also had at least four cannons, two mounted on each of its wings. With its shape sleek and deadly looking, whatever the ship was it was clearly not a civilian ship.

Finally getting close enough to the ship that she could inspect it properly, Winter slowly reached out a hand and touched its surface. To her surprise, it was quite warm though she put it down to it most likely having been on fire during its crash. She then glanced to her left when a soldier pointed out what looked like a serial number underneath the clouded glass canopy of the cockpit.

" _Spectre-044,"_ the Atlas specialist read aloud. Underneath were two more words. " _Hidden Shrike."_

"The ship's identification number and call-sign?" a soldier suggested.

"Clearly," Winter replied dryly. She then inspected the cockpit. "I wonder if the pilot's still alive in there?"

Before anyone could reply, a soldier screamed as he was suddenly lifted into the air by a pair of jaws that quickly snapped shut, ending his life and causing blood to spray in all directions. His fellows recoiled in shock before aiming their weapons in the direction that he had been.

What they saw made several of the soldiers pray to whatever gods they believed in.

A gigantic, draconic Grimm was hovering in the air above them glaring down at the humans before it. The dragon's scales were coloured black, and despite the size of its wings, each flap was completely silent. It had six eyes that glowed a fierce orange underneath its bone white mask and were currently boring into each and every human present.

Winter slowly took out her weapons and directed the soldiers into a defensive formation, grimacing as she glanced at her downed comrades broken body.

()()()()()()()()

"Well…I've never seen a Grimm quite like that!" Ozpin mused, frowning. He then glanced at Ironwood through his scroll. "I would suggest that you get your team out of there; I have the bad feeling that they will be no match against it, despite the presence of Winter."

"Even if I wanted to, I sincerely doubt that that thing will simply let them!" Ironwood growled before turning back to the screen that showed several different perspectives. "Winter; I'm going to send back up! Try and hold out until then!"

" _Understood, sir,"_ came Winter's cool voice in reply.

Ozpin sighed. "In that case, I'll see if Glynda is available. She might be able to provide some assistance."

"Do want you want, Ozpin, if it means that my team survives I'm all for it!"

()()()()()()()()()

Meanwhile, inside the crashed ship, the pilot began to stir, shaking his head to clear the bright spots that were obscuring his vision.

"Ergh…that didn't feel good…" he groaned, putting a hand to his head and wincing in pain. "Lexi, status report."

A calm female voice filled the cockpit at that moment. "The main structure of the Shrike is intact, although our engines have been completely ruined and the shift drive is completely totalled. Our frontal cannons are under the surface of the ground and are thus useless, but our wing mounted ones are…slightly less useless." Lexi's voice then paused. "Also, that necrodragon that was chasing us is now in a standoff with several unidentified military personnel. One has already been eaten."

"Great…what are their chances?" the pilot muttered as he struggled to undo the straps that held him into his seat.

"Let's just say that they have less of a chance of surviving as Gregor has of gaining the ability to be quiet."

"That is decidedly not good!" the pilot groaned, finally getting free of the strap. "Right, open the canopy, Lexi."

"Are you sure that's wise? Your vital signs are currently less than desirable for a combat situation against such an opponent."

The pilot sighed before grabbing a small metallic orb and attaching it to his belt. "Just open it, please."

Lexi's voice sighed. "Sometimes I wonder why I enjoy this partnership so much," she grumbled.

The pilot chuckled as he heard the canopy slowly hiss open. "It's probably because we have such interesting conversations!"

()()()()()()()()()

As Winter and her team faced off against the draconic Grimm, which had by that time decided to land and was now slowly stalking towards them, the Atlas specialist whipped around as she heard a noise come from the ship. Her eyes narrowed when she saw that the cockpit canopy was slowly opening.

"You men keep an eye on the Grimm, I'll deal with whatever comes out of the ship!" she ordered and dropped into a battle-ready stance.

The other members of Winter's team glanced at each other uncomfortably before moving into cover as the dragon let out a loud snarl and rushed towards them.

As the soldier's began firing on the Grimm, Winter finally got the chance to see the pilot of the downed ship in person as they leapt out of the cockpit. The man was wearing a white hooded cape over white, carapaced armour and on his face he was wearing a blank white mask with no visible eye slits that entirely covered his face. Finally, Winter saw a black bushy tail waving from behind the man's rear, indicating that he was a Faunus.

The mask made Winter stiffen, as it was similar to the ones worn by members of the terrorist organization the White Fang, and she pointed her sword at him.

'You there, are you a member of the White Fang?" she demanded.

The masked man turned in her direction. "Who?" He then shook his head before leaping into the air and landing in front of Winter's team, placing himself between them and the enraged dragon which had paused when he had appeared. "You lot, stay back unless you feel like getting melted into a puddle!"

With that, the pilot detached what looked like a plain rod from his belt before morphing it into a gigantic warhammer. Seeing the weapon, the necrodragon roared and shot a stream of acid at the pilot. In response, the man slammed his warhammer into the ground and a wall of ice suddenly appeared, blocking the acid long enough for the pilot to jump over the stream.

Landing beyond the ice wall, the pilot ran towards his opponent, ducked under a sudden swipe from a clawed hand and struck the dragon straight on the chest. There was a metallic thud and, to the surprise of all those watching in person and through cameras, the dragon was launched several metres backwards.

Without missing a beat, the pilot then leaped into the air again. As he did so, icy pillars erupted from the ground and surrounded the fallen dragon, trapping it. Giving a warcry, the pilot plunged downward in preparation of delivering the final blow.

However, he was flung across the crater as the dragon surprised him by lifting its tail and slamming it into his body. The pilot flew through the air before landing with a grunt beside Winter, who looked down at him looking very unimpressed.

"Need help?" she asked sarcastically.

"Nah, I'm all good!" the pilot insisted and leaped back to his feet. "Just keep your guys away from the fight; it's about to get a little bit chilly around here!"

Picking up his warhammer which had landed a few feet away from him, the pilot ran back towards the dragon as it crushed enough of the icy pillars to free itself. As he headed in its direction, Winter and her team noticed that the air was starting to grow colder. A few seconds later a sudden blizzard had appeared as if from nowhere, though Winter immediately knew that the pilot was the source. Knowing this, she was slightly impressed at the degree of power that the man was showing.

"Alright you moon-damned dragon, have a taste of Death's Frost!" the Atlesian team heard him roar.

A moment later five giant spears of solid ice formed in the air above the man's head as he charged towards the dragon. He then gestured with his warhammer and the spears immediately flew towards the Grimm. The creature managed to destroy four of the spears before the last one ripped its left wing to shreds, causing it to let out a piercing shriek that made Winter and her team wince and cover their ears in pain.

"I'm not done, jackass!" the man shouted. He then slammed his foot onto the ground and there was a shudder as the ground cracked before him. "Come on out, Fenris!"

With this, a giant white wolf clawed its way free from the ground and stood beside the pilot, standing several feet above him and letting out a distorted snarl. As soon it had appeared, the blizzard that had been raging blew out as it was sucked into the wolf, though the air remained as cold as it had until then. Having seemingly absorbed the blizzard Winter was quick to note that an icy wind now emanated from the huge beast.

If they could see his face, the Atlesians were sure the pilot would have been grinning.

()()()()()()()()

"That's…rather unnerving…" Ozpin commented as he leant forward, intently observing what was transpiring on the screen behind Ironwood. "Whoever this pilot is, he has a Semblance more powerful than anything I've ever seen." He considered his words for a moment before continuing. "Almost as powerful as that of a maiden…which would be interesting if he actually had that power."

Ironwood glanced at his scroll at these words. "Are you telling me that that MAN might have the power of a maiden?"

"If he does, it changes everything I thought I knew," Ozpin replied. "To think that the powers of a Maiden decided to manifest themselves in a male. Quite intriguing."

"What is the world coming to?" Ironwood sighed before returning his attention back to the screen.

()()()()()()()()()

Back at the confrontation between the mysterious pilot and the necrodragon, the ice wolf had torn the Grimm's remaining wing to shreds before dashing back to avoid a stream of acid. As it landed a few feet away from the beast, the pilot jumped forward and slammed his warhammer into the dragon's head. There was a vicious crunch and the Grimm's jaw snapped, hanging loosely as the dragon let out a shriek of pain and fury.

"If you think that was painful, you better brace yourself for this!" the pilot roared and held his hand up to the air.

A moment later, a giant blade of ice began to form above him, as long as his wolf and deadly looking. Fenris jumped in front of his master and blocked a desperate attempt from the dragon to stop the pilot and in that moment the ice blade became fully formed.

The pilot held the blade, though he wasn't physically touching it, above him for a moment before sweeping his hand straight down. As Fenris jumped back again, the ice blade whipped point down before plunging towards the dragon, impaling it a moment later and shattering causing even more damage as the icy shrapnel tore the dragon to shreds.

"As with all of your kind, be drawn down into the depths of hell, you monster," the pilot muttered, almost as a prayer. He then looked up at the ice wolf beside him and continued. "Time for you to go back, buddy. Thanks for the help!"

Saying this, the pilot tapped his foot on the ground and the wolf bowed as it turned into a mass of ice that was sucked into the depths of the crack in the earth that closed as the last vestiges of it disappeared.

The pilot then turned around and made to walk back towards Winter and her team, however a sudden warning shout from the Atlesian specialist made him pause. A moment later, he let out a roar of pain as a barb struck him from behind and forced him to his knees. Behind him, the thought to be defeated Grimm slumped back to the ground, an almost malicious look on its mask as it began to dissolve into a puddle of black goo. In its last moments, it had raised its tail and shot one of the barbs that grew out of it at the one that had defeated it, taking its revenge before it died.

As the pilot struggled to remove the barb from his shoulder, Winter and her team slowly approached him.

"Want help with that?" Winter asked as she reached him, crouching next to him and looking at where she assumed his eyes were.

"If it's not too much trouble," the man grunted in reply.

Winter nodded and stood up. She then gripped the barb in her gloved hands, glancing down at the pilot who took in a breath and gestured with his other hand for her to continue. Without taking her eyes off of the pilot's mask, Winter coolly and abruptly pulled the barb out, her action accompanied by an almost annoyed growl from the pilot as he felt it leave his shoulder. As she dropped the barb to the ground, the kneeling man slowly got to his feet.

"Thanks…could've warned me before you did that though," he said in a snarky voice.

"Best to get these things done without delay," Winter replied calmly. She then pointed her sword at the pilot. "Now then, put your hands behind your back and get on your knees."

"But I just got up from them!" the man protested before crossing his arms and tilting his head. "And why would I do that in the first place? What gives you the right to demand that of me?"

"You have violated the airspace of one of the Four Kingdoms while flying an unregistered, clearly military ship and you wear a mask that is very similar to a group of terrorists that have been plaguing the kingdoms recently," Winter filed off. "Need I go on?"

"Okay, first of all; did you forget that I just saved your butts from that necrodragon?" the pilot argued. "Secondly, I had no idea where I was since I was flying too high to be able detect any signs of civilization and also disregarding the fact that I was at the time being pursued by the aforementioned necrodragon." At that point and as quick as a flash, the pilot's uninjured arm whipped down to the rod that was attached to his belt. The specialist tensed when it morphed into a large shotgun that was then pointed directly at her face. "Finally, what makes you think you have a chance at stopping me from leaving? I get the feeling I could tear apart you and your team with little effort."

"And how do you figure that out?" Winter asked coldly.

"Simple really; I can't sense any magic from any one of you guys."

()()()()()()()()()

At this, Ironwood glanced hurriedly down at his scroll. "Ozpin! He just said…"

"Yes, I heard, James," Ozpin interrupted the general. He then sat back in his seat, a contemplative look on his face. "Well, that just about confirms the fact that the abilities he showcased tonight were in fact born of magic!"

"So does this mean he's a…er…'Maiden'?"

"I have no idea!" Ozpin laughed, clapping his hands together in excitement. "And I haven't experienced that sort of thing in quite some time! Good to know that it can still happen!"

"I'm glad someone's enjoying themselves," Ironwood muttered sarcastically.

()()()()()()()()()()

"Magic?" Winter repeated cautiously. "How can you be sure about that?"

The pilot shook his head. "Magic has a certain…feel to it. If one has adequate training in it, they can usually tell if another person also has the ability to wield it." He shrugged. "And since I'm, not to talk myself up here or anything, rather damn good at using magic I can tell that all you guys have to stand in my way…is you, lady." The pilot let out a short bark of laughter. "I mean, not to say that you're not strong, I can tell that Aura's pretty powerful, but the other guys barely have a quarter of your strength combined! If I take you out, I'm clear and free."

"And that's exactly why you'll fail to escape," Winter announced.

"How do you reckon?"

Winter smiled thinly. "You've underestimated the numbers I brought with me…as well as our equipment."

With that, she dove out of the way as the pilot was hit from behind by a rocket. As he staggered forwards, the specialist then charged at him and swung a leg around in a roundhouse kick, connecting with the pilot's head and knocking him to the ground.

Rubbing his head, the pilot looked up to see the tip of Winter's sword directly in front of his face, its owner glaring down at him.

"We may not have 'magic' but what we _do_ have is a lack of arrogance," she informed him. "So here's a lesson; never belittle the team I bring with me because I only choose the best."

"Wasn't belittling them, just stating a fact," the pilot replied stiffly. "Also, do you really think it's gonna be…that…easy…" Suddenly, the pilot tore his mask off and a moment later vomited. "Ergh…that's gross! Lexi…what the hell…?"

Winter looked around as an unfamiliar female voice issued seemingly from nowhere.

"Ghost, that barb that the necrodragon shot at you was filled with a rather nasty toxin that will cause you to throw up, make it difficult for you to breath and eventually suffer a slow and painful death as it eats away at your very cells. Did you forget about that little surprise they have?"

"Well excuse me for being preoccupied!" the pilot growled before collapsing onto his side, choking. "Yep…there's the difficulty in breathing…!" The man gasped painfully. "Is there anything…?"

"I'm checking my databanks to see if I can synthesize an antidote from the ingredients in the nearby area." There was a pause before Lexi, now sounding slightly concerned, stated, "Apologies, Ghost; there are no ingredients for the antidote in the surrounding area. Widening my scanning radius now…negative, still no sign of anything that can help."

"Well…guess you guys are gonna…" before he could continue, the now named 'Ghost' slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Winter knelt down next to him and checked his pulse. She then raised her sword, her team raising their guns, as a small metallic ball detached itself from Ghost's belt and hovered in the air beside his unconscious form. A moment later a soft blue light began emanating from the ball before it flared suddenly, causing the Atlesian team to squint. When their eyes readjusted they were dumbfounded by what they saw.

Where the ball had been floating, there was now a small girl with light blue hair that covered her left eye slightly and wearing a light blue dress. Her eyes, on the other hand, were what really drew their attention: her right eye was bright red, while her left eye that was slightly obscured by her hair was a multi-coloured green and purple.

The other thing that was slightly unnerving about this apparently little girl was the air of quiet intelligence that hung around her, as well as the almost irrepressible calmness that made Winter seem like an overactive child.

"Who are you?" Winter demanded, jumping to her feet and pointing her sword warily at the newly appeared girl.

The girl cocked her head curiously at the taller woman. "You seem to enjoying pointing that weapon at people," she stated. "Is that how you like to say 'hello'?"

"You're that voice from before," Winter observed, not lowering her sword.

The girl nodded happily. "Indeed I am. Allow me to introduce myself…" Here, she gave a small curtsey. "I am the Synthetic Intelligence Combat Assitant, or 'Seeker' Unit L-371, 'Lexi' for short. It's a pleasure to meet you, Atlesian Specialist Winter Schnee."

"How did…"

Lexi smiled and pointed to Winter's waist. "I remotely hacked into your charming little communication device when you threatened Ghost; I had intended to see if I could incapacitate you by causing an electrical discharge from its power source."

"Why didn't you?" Winter asked, slightly bemused by the fact that she was now conversing with someone who had identified themselves as an artificial construct.

"Because if my partner is to survive, he needs help whether he likes it or not," Lexi stated. "As you have no doubt gathered, Ghost can be rather stubborn and prone to confrontation."

"Yes, that was something I picked up on," Winter said dryly. "So what do you want?"

"I was hoping you'd bring my demands up!" the artificial girl smiled peacefully. She then clapped her small hands in an almost business-like manner. "What I want is for your commanding officer and that other old guy to speak to me for a moment."

()()()()()()()()()()

"Why do I get the feeling that that robot just called me 'old'?" Ironwood grumbled.

Ozpin let out a chuckle. "I believe she was referring to me, James. Either way, shall we hear what she has to say?"

"You're not even going to question the fact that she apparently made a mockery of Atlas's firewalls and hacked into not one, but two different scrolls in two different locations vastly apart from each other?"

"I wouldn't say Atlas and Vale are 'vastly' apart…but I understand your concern," Ozpin replied. "So, shall we converse with her?"

"You don't really have much of a choice, Professor Ozpin," Lexi's voice suddenly interrupted and her face appeared on all of the screens in the General Ironwood's command room.

"What the hell!?" Ironwood yelped, before clearing his throat and turning to glare at one of the screens. "Who the hell gave you permission to invade our screens like that, robot?"

"Please, 'Synthetic Intelligence Combat Assistant, or 'Seeker' if you prefer," Lexi corrected the irate general, smiling widely. "And why should I ask for permission when there was nothing you could do to stop me?"

"I could have the paladin that brought you partner down take you out as well if you're not careful!" Ironwood barked.

Lexi blinked before her eyes seemed to glaze for a moment. After a short pause, her eyes refocussed and she looked smugly at the general.

"To counter your previous statement, General James Ironwood, I could have that paladin you mentioned fire on your team instead." Here, the screens switched to the image of the Atlesian mech pointing its weapons at Winter's team, who looked nervously at each other, before switching back to Lexi. "I assume you would rather avoid that? And don't even think about trying to use you 'Bullheads'; I have already locked access to their weapon systems."

A vein pulsed on the General's forehead as he ground his teeth in frustration. "You…I…you have no idea who you are messing with, 'Seeker'!"

"Neither do you, general," Lexi rebutted sunnily. "Now, I would rather talk about potentially saving my partner from a slow death." Her expression then changed to a deadly serious one. "And know that if you do not agree to my terms I will hack into your systems, take control of every paladin and knight unit that you have at your base and I will command them to eliminate every living thing there."

"Now, now; there is no need for such threats," Ozpin quickly spoke up, overriding whatever General Ironwood was about to growl out. "Whatever demands you have you may present to me."

"Excellent; I knew there would be someone agreeable at this little council," Lexi smiled, once again looking like an innocent little girl, albeit one with glowing blue skin. "My demands are quite simple; I merely need access to a well-stocked infirmary and the medical apparatus one might provide."

"That's it?" Ozpin asked cautiously.

Lexi nodded. "I am certain I will be able to synthesize a temporary antidote for a necrodragon's toxin, assuming that your infirmaries stock basic medical supplies."

"Well, the nearest infirmary that might have all you need is at my academy," Ozpin replied after he considered the Seeker's request, even though he knew of several other medical facilities much closer to Lexi's location.

Unfortunately, the little robot girl seemed to already know this and said, with a smirk, "I will ignore the fact that that is quite obviously a lie, but the sooner we get Ghost there the better." She then focussed her attention back onto General Ironwood. "I assume that this is agreeable to you, general?"

"Why are you asking me?" Ironwood grunted, rolling his eyes. "I doubt you appreciate my opinion on the matter."

"Affirmative; I just wanted to give you the illusion that I did," Lexi sniggered.

Ironwood face palmed while Ozpin chuckled.

"You are quite an interesting…person," Ozpin smiled.

"That can be attributed to the fact that I was programmed with a 'sassiness' sub-routine," Lexi replied, giggling slightly. She then stuck out her tongue at General Ironwood. "By the way, I wouldn't have actually commanded your mechs to eliminate your personnel; I am unable to directly or indirectly harm anything non-grimm unless specifically ordered to by my partner."

"You were BLUFFING!?" Ironwood growled in disbelief, his face red with rage.

Lexi cheekily smiled. "Affirmative."

Seeing that his friend was about to explode in anger, Ozpin said, "Now that we've come to an agreement, how about you get 'Ghost' onto a bullhead and get him to Beacon as soon as possible?"

"That is precisely what I plan to do, Professor Ozpin. Be ready to receive him, if you would."

"I'll have the pilot contact me when he's close," Ozpin assured her. "Have a safe trip!"

()()()()()()()()()()()

"Ohh…my head…" Ghost groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. He then immediately squinted when as the lights temporarily blinded him "Argh, someone turn the lights off!"

"Your eyesight will return momentarily, Ghost, do not fret," Ghost heard Lexi's voice speak up from beside him.

Turning his head, he saw the lightly glowing blue face of his robotic companion staring at him.

"Lexi…where am I?" he asked, slowly sitting up. He then paused when he noticed that there were two more people present; a bespeckled grey haired man sipping a cup of tea and a similarly bespeckled blonde haired woman with a very severe looking expression on her face. "Who the hell are you guys?"

The woman harrumphed while the man smiled.

"Introductions do seem like the appropriate thing to do right now, don't they?' the man said conversationally. "I am Professor Ozpin, headmaster of the Vale Kingdom's Beacon Academy and this is my colleague Professor Glynda Goodwitch."

"Right…and why were you two watching me sleep?" Ghost asked suspiciously. "Seems kinda creepy if you ask me."

"I can assure you that we had no nefarious intents other than wanting to be here when you woke up." Ozpin paused when Glynda cleared her throat sharply. Sighing, the man corrected himself. "Fine; I wanted to be here when you woke up."

Ghost glanced at Lexi, who shrugged and said, "I saw no problem with it so I let them stay."

Her partner sighed. "I'll trust your judgement on that, since I wasn't exactly in a position to argue." He then looked back to Ozpin and Glynda. "So what do you want?"

"Some answers to questions that I have," Ozpin replied after taking a sip from his cup.

"Guess I owe you guys that much," Ghost grunted as he got into a more comfortable position. "I take it that this is a medical facility and that you're responsible for me not dying?"

"Actually your companion suggested the specifics of the treatment, the doctor's here merely followed whatever instructions she gave them," the professor admitted.

"Ah…well, in any case I suppose I should be grateful to you guys either way for allowing her to save me," Ghost shrugged.

Lexi cleared her throat then, making Ghost look over at her, and said, slightly guiltily, "About that…the treatment wasn't a complete success, not without the specific medical treatment that's back home."

"So…what does that mean?"

"I was only able to synthesise a temporary solution that, though it hasn't purged the toxin from your blood, is slowing its progress through your systems," Lexi explained. 'However, if we don't get home within the next two years, you WILL expire. Also, you need to take regular pills filled with the solution, otherwise the toxin's progress will increase again."

"Two years, huh?" Ghost mused. "Shouldn't take that long to get the Shrike back in action."

Lexi sighed. "Again, that could be a problem. General Ironwood of Atlas has, in the hours that you were unconscious, has seized the Shrike and has no intention of giving it back anytime soon."

"WHAT?! WHY?!"

"Remember how that Winter lady said that we had violated their airspace?" Ghost nodded. "The good general seems to think that that gives him the right to take the Shrike away for study."

"That absolute, moon-damned jackass!" Ghost growled in frustration.

He then made to swing himself out from the hospital bed but in response Lexi, to the surprise of Ozpin and Glynda, materialized two giant cannons that seemed to be made of the same blue material as her outer shell and floated in the air above her, pointing straight at Ghost.

"I'm afraid that I cannot allow you to engage in any strenuous activities," the Seeker informed her partner.

"Jeez, fine you don't have to get your digi-cannons out!" Ghost grumbled, sitting back down on the bed.

"Just making sure, Ghost," Lexi replied, her cannons disappearing now that she was satisfied her partner wasn't about to get out of bed.

"What are 'digi-cannons'?" Ozpin asked curiously.

"That's classified information, old man," Ghost replied sharply. "All you need to know is that she probably has enough firepower to level this entire building and then some."

"Let's try to avoid that outcome then, shall we?" Ozpin chuckled, not seeming too bothered by that information. Taking another sip, he then continued. "I don't suppose that your real name is classified as well, young man?"

"Wait, how did you I was young?" Ghost frowned before his hand shot to his face. Immediately realizing that his mask was no longer on it, he groaned. "Right…I'm in hospital attire…duh…" He then shrugged. "Whatever, no point in complaining about that. As for my name…you can call me Lucan. Seth Lucan."

"Well then, Seth Lucan, it's a pleasure to truly meet you," Ozpin smiled, although Glynda merely grunted.

She then pushed her glasses up and said, "Now that we know who you are, how about you tell us why you're here?"

"Trust me, Goodwitch, we didn't come here willingly," Seth grunted.

"Then why don't you enlighten us?" Ozpin suggested gently.

Seth shrugged. "Nothing special to it really; I was testing out an experimental shift drive for my ship when I was attacked by that moon-damned necrodragon grimm, the drive malfunctioned when the ship took a particularly violent hit and the next thing both the Shrike and the grimm were teleported who knows how far across Remnant!"

"I actually have a good idea about where we ended up, Seth," Lexi piped up. She held out her hand and a beam of light projected from her palm, a holographic map of the whole of Remnant hovering in the air a second later. "When the shift drive went wonky, I believe that it opened up a portal and deposited us on the other side of Remnant."

"What exactly is a shift drive?" Glynda interrupted, earning herself an annoyed look from Seth.

"Again, classified information."

Glynda glared at the younger man. "Now look here; we've been agreeable so far, allowing you companion to use our medical facilities and in return you've been nothing but stubborn and pig-headed! I think we deserve an answer or two!"

"Glynda…calm down," Ozpin sighed.

"But…!"

At a look from her superior, Glynda let out an annoyed sigh of her own but went silent. Seeing that she was somewhat calmer now, Ozpin switched his attention back to Seth.

"She does have a point though, young man; if we are to have garner pleasant ties, then something must be given in return for all the help we have provided you," he pointed out in a reasonable tone.

At this, Seth and Lexi shared a look.

"I…suppose that's reasonable…" Seth eventually grudgingly admitted. "Fine…if you really must know, the shift drive was supposed to be allow instantaneous travel between two points. It was also hoped that if the prototype worked and if we could develop an even more advanced version in the future then it might…allow us to travel to the moon."

Ozpin's eyebrows shot upwards at this. "Interesting…well, clearly the drive works."

"In a sense…but now that jackass General Up-Tight has the Shrike and apparently refuses to give it back!" Seth ranted. "Not that it would do him any good even if he knew what exactly my ship contained. Before I exited the Shrike, I had Lexi run a diagnostic on the ship and we found out that the damned drive was completely wrecked."

"Moving on…how exactly was this 'shift drive' supposed to allow space travel?" Ozpin queried. "Dust doesn't operate in space after all."

Seth shrugged. "I don't really know to be honest. All I was told, and all that I was really able to understand, is that it doesn't use dust but something call an 'oscillator' of some sort." He glanced at Lexi. "You know anything more about it?"

"Apologies, but I was never let in on the project proper, merely the basics of the idea which you pretty much touched upon just then," Lexi replied regretfully. "Melanie's Seeker would probably know more, since they were both involved with its initial development."

"Figures…sorry, Ozpin but that's apparently all you get on the shift drive," Seth shrugged. "So what else do you want to know?"

Ozpin leaned forwards then, deciding that now would be a good time for him to ask the one question that he wanted to know the answer to.

"There is one thing that has been on my mind since I first saw you fight…what is that Semblance of yours?"

Seth raised an eyebrow. "I didn't use my Semblance during that fight though."

"I believe he was referring to your Inheritor powers, Seth," Lexi pointed out.

Ozpin latched onto Lexi's words. "'Inheritor'? What exactly does that mean?"

The injured Faunus grimaced. "That's…a really complicated answer, old man."

"Start at the beginning then, if you please."

Seth sighed. "Alright…I suppose the answer begins several thousands of years ago, when the Twin Gods left humanity and nearly destroyed Remnant in the process. In the wake of their departure and the first encounter with the Grimm eight individuals, four humans and four Faunus who were each chiefs of their own tribe, came together and made a truce. Basically, they came to an agreement to come together as one and fight the Grimm for as long as they could."

"Ordinarily, even with their combined might and the eventual discovery of Dust, the tribes would have been wiped out by the unending horde of Grimm. However, the tribal leaders were special; the four humans still had access to the great magic that was gifted to humanity before the Gods departure. They then taught it to the four Faunus and together they were able to carve out a great kingdom which they dubbed 'Union'. To this day, Union has stood the test of time and the relentless assault against its people by the Grimm, even after the great heroes passed."

"If these great figures passed away, how is it…?" Glynda went to ask, but she was silenced by Seth gesturing for her to be quiet.

"I'm getting to that, Goodwitch," he assured her, sounding slightly annoyed. "Anyway, the eight leaders obviously had families of their own at one point or another, and their magic was passed down through their individual bloodlines, but only to one member of their family at a time. These individuals are called 'Inheritors' and they wield the magic of their ancestors, though nowhere near as powerful as the originals."

"And you are one of these Inheritors?" Ozpin asked purely to confirm what Lexi had said before.

"Yep; I'm the Inheritor of House Nixis and descendant of the great hero Lucian Nixis the Lord of Ice and leader of the White Wolves." A hint of pride could be detected in the young Faunus's voice as he spoke. "As such, I can use powerful ice magic and summon the great ice wolf Fenris."

"Ah, that would be that giant wolf that we saw you fight beside I take it?" Ozpin asked, fascinated.

"Got it in one, old man," Seth nodded. "Fenris was Lucien's original familiar, now passed down through his bloodline to me. He's also my best buddy next to Lexi."

"I am honoured that you consider me on par as your familiar, Seth," Lexi piped up, sounding pleased and slightly touched.

"Enjoy it then, cos I'm never going to say that again," Seth joked.

"May I ask who the other heroes were?" Ozpin asked then, a look of intense curiosity on his face. In his head, he thought, _"These 'heroes' sound very similar to Maidens, though now that I know he's not from this side of Remnant I suppose that he's not one of the Maidens. How James will be relieved to know that!"_

"Hmm…there's my ancestor, Lucien, of course. Then there was Dania Fulgurn the Queen of Storms and leader of the Striking Spears. Another one was known as Alisse Aqua the Lady of the Sea and leader of the Seawatchers, who also had a friendly rivalry with the leader of the Voidkeepers, Tayden Inanis the Obsidian Prince. Next up is Phia Bellator the Goddess of War and leader of the Berserkers. The leader of the Iron Lords tribe was a man by the name of Forge Ferrum; unsurprisingly the Iron Lords were the forge masters of early Union."

It was at this point that a brief flicker of sadness crossed Seth's face, though only Ozpin noticed but didn't comment. "And the last two tribes were the Firedrakes, led by Thayne Vulcan the Flaming Sword and the Wind Walkers whose leader was the Whispering Wind Shino Ventus."

Seth then paused for a moment as he made sure that he had remembered all of the heroes and nodded when he was sure. "And yep, that was all of them."

Ozpin and Glynda were silent for a moment as they digested the information that they had just received. The headmaster of Beacon was considering the new exciting possibilities an alliance with individuals who had powers on par with the Maidens could provide, while Glynda was merely worried about the potential destruction the Faunus might bring to the growing chaos of the Four kingdoms.

"Well…you've certainly given me a lot to consider," Ozpin commented eventually. He then clapped his hands together. "Now then, what are your plans going forward, young man?"

Seth blinked at this abrupt change in conversation before sharing a look with Lexi. "Er…hadn't really thought about that." He then grinned wryly. "Although it's obvious that my Seeker won't let me go and storm Atlas to get the Shrike back."

"That is an affirmative, Agent Ghost," Lexi nodded in agreement.

"Jeez, mother, next you'll be telling me that I can't fight altogether!" Seth replied sarcastically. He then looked suspiciously at his Seeker. "You AREN'T about to say that, right?"

Lexi took a moment for a dramatic pause before grinning. "No, you should be fine to fight, as long as you take the medication that I'm having the doctors cook up for you."

"Thank the ancestors for that!"

Ozpin chuckled at the interaction between the two companions before repeating his question. Seth rolled his eyes at this.

"Why don't you just come out and say it, old man?" he sighed. When he saw Ozpin's eyebrow go up, he smirked. "You want to make a deal, don't you?"

"Now that you mention it…" the headmaster smiled. "First of all, how old are you?"

"Seventeen. Why?"

"Excellent; you are exactly of age for someone to enter my academy!" Ozpin replied. "The deal I have is this; you join Beacon Academy, train to be hunter, though you clearly don't need to but for the sake of appearing to be a normal applicant, and in return I will try to get 'General Up-Tight' to return your ship." Ignoring the stern look that Glynda was now levelling in his direction, the man continued. "Of course, you might also need to go out on missions from time to time and you might be expected to join a team, again for the sake of looking the part."

Seth nodded slowly and then said, "Sounds reasonable…except for one thing; I refuse to join a team."

"And why is that?"

"Because I already have a team waiting for me back home and I can't in good conscience join another, despite being on the other side of Remnant compared to them."

Ozpin considered these words. "Understandable…well, I suppose I could pass you off as a teacher's assistant who is also going to be training to be a hunter at the same time…but which teacher?"

The tone with which Ozpin spoke that last bit caused Glynda's frown to deepen as she realized where the headmaster was going with his current train of thought.

"Ozpin…!' she began threateningly but she was too late.

"Oh, I know; how about you be the assistant for Professor Goodwitch here?" the tea-addict suggested nonchalantly. "She could use one and it sounds amusing…I mean…appropriate."

"How is that in any way appropriate?" Glynda demanded.

"Get back to me on that," Ozpin said dismissively. A mischievous smile then appeared on his face, which only made his colleague even more wary. "Actually, we need a backstory for you so how about this one; you will masquerade as Glynda's beloved nephew and live with her to seal the ruse!"

"WHAT?!" Seth and Glynda both yelled out in exasperation and annoyance while Lexi hid a snigger behind her hands.

"But I'm a Faunus, old man!" Seth pointed out.

"And Glynda's sister married one," Ozpin countered. "I would have thought that would be obvious."

"But…but…!" Glynda spluttered, too nonplussed to be able to string together an actual sentence. She then rallied and snapped, "I don't even have a sister, you idiot!"

"And nobody needs to know that," Ozpin said, frowning slightly at being called an idiot.

"Be that as it may, no one would even believe that we're related!" the agitated professor continued, gesturing between herself and Seth. "We look nothing alike!"

It was true; while Glynda was pale skinned, had green eyes and blonde hair, Seth, even though he also had pale skin, had midnight black hair instead of blonde, wolf ears with white tuffs of fur on their tips and light blue eyes. To the casual observer, they certainly would not be mistaken for relatives.

It was at this point that Lexi decided to speak up, saying, "You know, sometimes blood relatives have very different features compared to each other. It wouldn't be that big of a stretch if the two of you simply acted the part."

"Not…helping, Lexi!" Seth growled, glaring at his Seeker, who poked her tongue out at him in response. He then pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in frustration. "And this is seriously the only way we can do this?"

"It's certainly the most entertaining…I mean 'current' idea I can think of at this moment," Ozpin nodded.

Shaking his head, Seth then looked at Glynda, who looked less than pleased at how the conversation was going. "Well…guess I'm in your care now…Aunt Glynda…"

Glynda froze at those words, her eye twitching slightly before she too sighed and sat back down on her chair with her head in her hands.

"How did my life get to this point?" she mumbled, mostly to herself. "FINE! I'll go along with this idiotic plan of yours, Ozpin." She then raised her head and looked sternly at Seth. "But first, some rules: if you are to live with me you will obey every order I give you, you will not make a mess of the room that I will no doubt have to fix up for you and clean it up if you foolishly do so and you are NOT to bring others over without my express permission. Got it?"

"Sure…but there is one thing that need to ask you now…" Glynda nodded shortly so Seth continued. "How are you with animals?"

"Why?"

"Well…whenever I'm not using him I like to have Fenris with me just for fun."

"You will NOT have that giant beast inside my apartment!"

Seth frowned. "Okay, first of all, he's a WOLF, not a beast. Second of all, I wasn't saying that he would be around in his regular form."

"What do you mean by that?"

"How about I just show you?"

With that, Seth held out a hand and said "Fenris, come on out."

A moment later a circle of frost appeared on the floor and from its depths a much smaller wolf than the one before jumped through it. Even if he hadn't said the wolf's name, it was immediately clear to Ozpin and Glynda that this was a miniaturized version of Seth's familiar though it still stood almost at shoulder height to Glynda.

Once it was fully out of the circle, the wolf let out a yawn before sitting on its haunches and observing the unfamiliar people in the room.

"That's…certainly convenient…" Ozpin remarked, taking a sip from a cup of tea that Seth idly wondered where exactly he had produced from.

()()()()()()()()()()

 _And that's it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Also, down below are two short bios on Seth and Lexi._

 _ **Seth Lucan 'Agent Ghost'**_

 _ **Wolf Faunus, 17.**_

 _ **Appearance: average height, black hair, light blue eyes and wolf ears that have small white fur tufts on their tips and a large, slightly bushy tail that also has a white tip.**_

 _ **Inheritor Abilities: Death's Frost (is able to conjure great spears of ice, can produce a blizzard over a large area and teleport anywhere within its radius, summons Fenris the Frozen Sentinel and can construct gigantic frozen weapons to destroy his enemies)**_

 _ **Semblance: Intangibility (he can pass through any surface or being)**_

 _ **Weapon: Infinite Mystery (a rod that can change into the form of any weapon that Seth has scanned with it)**_

 _ **Attire: White hooded cape, white mask that allows him to see in many different spectrums, white carapace armour.**_

 _ **Synthetic Intelligence Combat Assistant (Seeker) L-371 'Lexi'**_

 _ **Intelligent Construct, 6 (since coming online)**_

 _ **Appearance: looks like a ten year old girl with a light blue hair and two different coloured eyes (left eye multi green and purple, right bright red)**_

 _ **Abilities: can hack any technology remotely or in person and the range of her hack can increase if she hacks through a scroll or similar external device. During her Unshackled Combat Mode, she grows hard light wings that allow her to fly.**_

 _ **Modes: Standby Mode (waits for further orders), Recharge Mode (self-explanatory), Sentinel Mode (deploys singe target elimination armament configuration), Unshackled Combat Mode (form transforms into that of a grown woman, grows hard light wings and deploys large scale annihilation armament configuration)**_

 _ **Armaments: Various digi-weapons (precision cannons (ballistic and laser), missile launchers (cluster and regular), miniguns, flamethrowers and harpoon launchers)**_

 _ **Armament Configurations: Single Target (sentinel)- precision cannons, harpoon launchers, regular missile launchers); large scale annihilation (Unshackled combat)- all digital armaments.**_

 _ **Attire: Wears a light blue dress**_


	2. Chapter 2

_Word of warning, going to skip the main cast's initiation since there have been so many in the other RWBY fanfics and the only OC who is present right now is Seth. I have something different in mind for him since he insists on being on a team of one._

 _Enjoy._

()()()()()()()()

-Chapter Two- Meetings and Initiations

 _Three weeks later…_

The old man looked up when he heard the bell attached to his little store rang. He saw that his latest patron was a small girl wearing a red coloured hood with a large sniper rifle strapped to her back.

"Greetings, miss, looking for anything in particular?" he asked, flashing her a friendly grin.

"Just browsing for now," the girl replied, lowering her hood to reveal silver eyes and black hair with red tips, and returning the smile.

The old man nodded and returned his attention to the magazine that was in front of him.

Ruby Rose walked between the shelves of product that were on offer. She paused when she spied a magazine on the latest weapons for the discerning huntresses and hunters and quickly reached out for it. As she did so, both she and the man glanced towards the door when the bell dinged again.

The store owner froze when a man walked in wearing a white hooded cloak and matching white mask, a furry tail hanging behind him.

"Er, can I help you sir?" he asked, not able to help the small waver that entered his voice. Seeing the white mask as well as the obvious Faunus features put him slightly on edge what with the news about the White Fang recently.

The newcomer seemed to realize the assumption the old man had made. He sighed and reached up, removing his mask and revealing a young face with black hair and light blue eyes, and saying, "Relax; I'm not part of the White Fang. It's just my unfortunate luck that they decided to have white masks as well." The young man held out the mask to the old man, nodding for him to take and inspect it. "And anyway, this mask looks nothing like theirs."

Seeing that the boy spoke the truth, the older man nodded and handed the mask back to the owner. Attaching the mask to his belt next to an odd looking metal ball, the boy briefly met the curious eyes of the girl before looking away and walking towards the nearest shelf. Ruby's eyes followed him for a moment before she quickly shook herself and returned her eyes to the magazine in her hands.

For the next few minutes, there was silence as the three people in the store went about their business in peace. This peace was quickly shattered as the door was once again opened, but this time being slammed opened violently. Ruby, who by now had put the magazine back on the shelf, jumped slightly and looked over her shoulder as a tall man wearing white suit, black pants and a black bowler hat over his orange hair swaggered in, swinging a cane nonchalantly as he approached the store owner. He leaned casually against the counter as several thugs barged in after him.

"Do you know how long we've been looking for a dust shop still open at this time of night?" the orange haired man began conversationally. "A long time, is the answer!"

"Please, sir, I'm not looking for any trouble," the old man pleaded, cowering away from the other man.

The orange haired man grinned. "Too bad, trouble's come looking for you and its name is…"

"Roman Torchwick," the white cloaked boy interrupted, stepping forwards and crossing his arms. "The biggest idiot…sorry…'greatest thief' in the Four Kingdoms."

Roman raised an eyebrow and turned around to face the boy. "Glad to see that my reputation precedes me, even with a smartass attitude. Who're you, boy?" Before the boy could answer, the thief waved his hand dismissively. "Whatever, it doesn't really matter. Boys, relive him and the girl of their stuff."

Ruby frowned as two of Roman's thugs approached her. "Erm, just so we're clear you guys are robbing me, right?" she asked curiously. Rolling his eyes, Roman nodded. "Cool, just needed to know." Looking at the storeowner, she said, "Mister, stay behind the counter; I'll get these guys outta here!"

A moment later, if there had been a pedestrian passing by the shop 'From Dust till Dawn', they would have been startled at the sight of two men crashing through one of the store's front windows. They would have been even more surprised when a young girl jumped out after them wielding a gigantic scythe that was much larger than her.

Back in the shop, Roman sighed in annoyance. "So…that just happened." He then turned to the white cloaked boy. "Don't suppose that you're gonna hand over your stuff without a hassle?"

Shaking his head, the boy detached a rod from his belt. A moment later the rod had morphed into a giant hammer, the sight of which made Roman sigh again.

"Yep…thought not," he grunted. "Just my luck!"

()()()()()()()()

Ruby glanced around when Roman and the rest of his thugs came crashing through the unbroken window, the boy she had seen walking casually through the front door a moment later with a giant hammer resting in his shoulder. He stood next to Ruby and nodded at her.

"Nice job with those guys," he said, his blue eyes taking in the scythe that the girl was holding. "Cool weapon."

"Th…thanks…!" Ruby replied shyly; she wasn't very comfortable around strangers, especially what her sister Yang would describe as a cute boy. "Right back at you."

The boy held out his free hand to her. "Name's Seth Goodwitch, by the way."

"Oh…I'm Ruby Rose," Ruby said, shaking Seth's hand. She then paused. "Wait…Goodwitch…where have I heard that name before?"

There was no time for Seth to reply due to the fact that Roman had just shot to his feet and was now glaring at the two youngsters in front of him.

"Alright, Red and White, babysitting time is over!" he growled and aimed his cane at them both. "Say goodbye!"

A second later a ball of fire erupted from the end of his cane and shot towards Ruby and Seth. Before it could hit them though the boy stepped in front of Ruby, his weapon returning to its rod form before morphing into a greatsword, and blocked Roman's attack with the flat side of the blade. The explosion that occurred after the impact barely made Seth flinch and when the resultant smoke cleared he raised an eyebrow at the very annoyed thief.

"That all you got?" he asked coolly, changing his weapon once again into its warhammer form.

"For the love of…take them down!" Roman roared, shoving his nearest lackey in the direction of the two teens.

What followed next could have been described charitably as an absolutely one sided fight. Even if Roman's goons had been actually willing to fight Ruby and Seth in the first place, the two teens made short work of them, the combination of giant scythe and giant warhammer flinging them in all directions. Seth's warhammer even made several crates as he brutally put down his opponents.

"Seriously, what the hell are they feeding you brats these days?" Roman exclaimed in irritation as Ruby threw the last of his thugs at his feet.

"Sugar and spice and everything nice!" Ruby replied cheerily. "Now surrender, dirtbag!"

Roman's only response was to quickly throw a grenade at the two teens, which turned out to be a flashbang and blinded them long enough for him to make his getaway.

As Seth blinked the bright spots out of his eyes, he checked up on Ruby who was crouched on the ground rubbing her own eyes.

"You alright, Ruby?" he asked, helping her to her feet.

"Yep; it'll take more than that to stop me!" the red cloaked teen replied, putting on a determined air. "Right, I'm gonna go after that guy; you want to join me?"

Seth grinned. "You know it, Red!"

()()()()()()()()()

Roman thought he was clear and free as he waited for his transport to pick him up on the roof of a tall building, but when he heard two people land behind him he knew his night wasn't over.

"Isn't it passed your bedtime?" he grumbled, turning around to see the expected sight of Ruby and Seth standing behind him in battle-ready stances.

"That may be, but I think my aunt will understand my need to take down an idiot like you, idiot," Seth replied smoothly. "Now, like Red said; surrender, dirtbag."

Roman was about to reply but the sound of a bullhead approaching made him smirk.

"How about this; you brats run away and my ride won't fill the both of you with bullets!" He then shrugged. "Actually, on second thought…"

A moment later the aircraft opened fire on the two teens who were forced to dodge out of the way. Seeing the futility of small arms fire, the pilot of the bullhead fired several missiles in their direction.

"Ah, crap…" Seth grumbled, throwing himself at Ruby, knocking her to the ground and shielding her with his body.

However, before the missiles reached their targets, they were stopped in mid-air by a purple field. All of those present, and it even seemed as if the bullhead turned slightly, looked around and quickly saw the source of the field; Glynda Goodwitch had arrived on the scene, her riding-crop pointed at the missiles.

"Crap, it's that psycho professor!" Roman yelled out before jumping towards the bullhead, whose doors opened to admit him.

At the same time that the thief jumped into the passenger compartment, a woman in crimson clothing and wearing a similarly coloured mask leaned out as the bullhead slowly began to drift away from the rooftop. Without wasting any time, Glynda gestured with her riding-crop and flung the missiles towards the aircraft's engines.

This time, it was a sheet of flame that stopped the missiles from reaching their intended targets, detonating them harmlessly several feet away from the bullhead. As the flames appeared, Seth's eyes narrowed and his wolf-ears perked up.

" _Hmm…that felt like magic…"_ he thought to himself, watching the bullhead fly off, still lying on top of Ruby, whose face by now was almost as red as her hood.

Ruby shyly tapped Seth on the shoulder, avoiding his eyes as he looked down at her, and stuttered, "Uh…c…can you please get off me now?"

Seth coughed, embarrassed, as he realized how close they were and immediately got to his feet, helping Ruby up at the same time.

"Sorry about that, Red," he muttered.

"I…it's fine," Ruby replied nervously, shuffling her feet and looking down at them. "You were just trying to protect me.

As Seth opened his mouth to reply, he found one of his human ears in the firm grip of the woman who had just saved them.

"What in the gods' name do you think you were doing?" Glynda demanded. "How did a simple grocery run turn into one store being vandalized and you almost being hospitalized due to missiles?"

"Ow, ow, ow!" Seth grunted, his tail flicking in agitation at the sharp pain in his ear. "Come on, Aunt Glynda; is the ear thing really necessary?"

"It is when my 'nephew' apparently can't be trusted with getting dinner!"

As the two apparent relatives argued, the cogs in Ruby's head slowly turned. At the mention of Glynda's name, she finally realized who the older woman was.

"Oh my god, you're Glynda Goodwitch!" she shrieked excitedly, pointing at the professor. "Can I have your autograph?!" She then turned pointed at Seth. "And you called her Aunt! That means you're related!"

As Seth stared at Ruby, Glynda's eyes narrowed and before red-cloaked teen knew it the professor's free hand was twisting her ear as well.

"What you can have is an interview with the authorities to explain exactly why you got yourself involved with a dangerous criminal!" She then turned to glare at Seth. "You as well, boy!"

Seth rolled his eyes and grimaced at Ruby as they were both pulled by their ears behind the irritated professor.

()()()()()()()()()()

An hour later, Ruby found herself sitting in an interview room at the Vale police headquarters. She didn't know where Seth was; he had been taken somewhere else by his aunt as soon as they had arrived.

Fidgeting nervously, Ruby looked up as the door to the small room finally opened. A grey haired man wearing glasses, a black suit and holding a cup of tea and a cane walked in, Glynda Goodwitch accompanying him. He sat down opposite Ruby while Glynda stood behind him and immediately fixed his eyes on her, studying her face for several minutes and making the young girl fidget even more.

Just as Ruby was about to ask what was going on, the man leant forward and announce, "Ruby Rose…are you aware that you have silver eyes?"

Ruby blinked; this was certainly not what she expected the man to ask.

"Um…yes…?" she replied cautiously.

The man nodded before continuing. "Moving on, my name is Professor Ozpin. I am…"

"The headmaster of Beacon Academy!" Ruby shrieked for the second time that night, recognising another person she looked up to.

Ozpin grimaced and took a sip of his tea. "Quite. I'm glad to know that you were already aware of who I am, even if I could have done without the ringing in my ears I am now currently experiencing.

Ruby grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, sir, it's just that it's always been my dream to go to Beacon Academy once I graduate from Signal."

"Is that so?" Ozpin queried, smiling slightly at the girl's wide eyes. "And why do you wish to attend Beacon specifically?"

"Everyone knows that the best hunters and huntresses came from Beacon!" Ruby replied eagerly. She then took on a more serious expression. "Not only that, but I believe in my heart that I can become the best huntress I can if I manage to pass the initiation and allow me to better protect people from the Grimm that might not be able to themselves."

Ozpin was quiet for a moment before his smile widened. "Those are certainly noble intention you have their, young lady, something that you also exhibited tonight when you tried to apprehend Roman Torchwick." He then grinned up at Glynda. "I believe your nephew was also involved, Glynda?"

"Yes, and I have reprimanded him appropriately," his colleague snapped.

"Poor boy," Ozpin muttered before returning his attention back to Ruby. "Now then, I hear that you showed remarkable skill during your fight, both with your weapon and in your usage of your semblance." He glanced at the sniper-scythe that was leaning against the wall behind its owner. "Where did you learn how to wield that thing so effectively by the way?"

"My Uncle, Qrow Branwen, sir," Ruby replied. "He taught me all that he could whenever he visited."

"Ah…that explains it," Ozpin mused, while Glynda sighed. "Well…I would say that, along with fighting skill and spirit that you've shown, as well as the selfless way you tried to protect the storeowner, damage to his store notwithstanding, I believe that you deserve a reward of some kind."

"Okay…" Ruby wondered what the man had in mind; judging from the mischievous smile that suddenly appeared on his face, she was hoping that it wouldn't be anything to weird.

What Ozpin said next nearly made her faint.

"I know; how about I offer you a place in Beacon Academy this year?"

There was a moment's silence before both Glynda and Ruby exclaimed, "WHAT?"

"Why am I getting a sense of déjà vu?" Ozpin chuckled.

"Ozpin; you can't be serious!" Glynda cried. "She's too young!"

"You know as well as I do that age doesn't matter when it comes to preparedness," Ozpin assured her. "I truly think that young Ruby here is more than skilled enough to keep up with the other freshman that are applying for this year despite being…two years?" He looked at Ruby for confirmation and at her nod continued, "…two years younger than them." The headmaster of Beacon then smirked. "Besides, your own nephew vouched for her skill."

"I really don't think you should base your opinion on his words, sir," Glynda muttered.

"Nevertheless…Miss Rose, would you like to attend Beacon this year?"

Almost before Ozpin was able to complete his sentence, Ruby let out a cry of excitement and almost launched herself over the table to grab his hand and shake it.

"YESYESYESOHMYGODIACCEPT!" she babbled, causing Glynda to shake her head disapprovingly and Ozpin begin to wonder if he had made the right choice after all. "I promise that I'll do the best I can!"

"Very well…Miss Rose, you are free to go."

With that, Ruby let go of his hand, grabbed her weapon and shot out of the door after smiling widely at the two adults. As the door slowly swung close, rose petals drifting down to the ground, Glynda smacked Ozpin on the top of his head.

"Seriously?" she demanded with one word.

"What can I say; I like to make things interesting!" Ozpin joked. "And it looks as if this year is going to be particularly exciting!"

A frustrated sigh was all the response he received from his annoyed colleague.

()()()()()()()()()()

 _Two weeks later…_

"I still can't believe that you got in, little sis!" Yang Xiao Long, the blonde and 'slightly' more developed sister of Ruby, cooed as she gripped her sister in a tight hug. 'So proud of you!"

"Yaaaang…! Stop!" Ruby squealed as she tried to wriggle out of her sister's arms. "You're embarrassing me!" Indeed, a few of their fellow Beacon hopefuls were giving them strange looks.

The two sisters were currently on a transport airship headed towards the place where they would be spending the next four years training to be the best huntresses they could be. When Yang had found out that her little sister would be joining her two years earlier than usual, she had at first been shocked before quickly showering the embarrassed girl with praise and affection. Now, Ruby was only hoping that she would be able to live up to the expectations that her family and Professor Ozpin trusted her to.

As Ruby finally managed to extricate herself from her sister's clutches, she managed to get a look out of one of the ship's windows. The girl cried out in excitement and pressed her face up against the glass surface as she saw the majestic sight of the castle like building of Beacon Academy in the distance.

"Look, Yang; Beacon Academy!" she sighed with relief, still not quite believing that she was actually going to be attending her dream school.

Yang smiled as she stood next to her sister, her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders.

"And we are gonna take it by storm!" she replied. The blonde then looked over her shoulder as she heard someone throw up behind them, grimacing. "In any case, at least we seem to be having a better time already than that guy."

Ruby nodded, wide eyed, as the two sisters watched a blonde boy, his head obscured inside a bin, throw up again. Feeling slightly queasy after watching for a few seconds, Ruby quickly looked back out of the window while Yang snickered at the boy's discomfort. With every second, Beacon got closer and her excitement, plus a little bit of trepidation, increased.

()()

When the transport finally touched down on one of the many landing pads, the first thing that Seth noticed was a blonde boy practically falling to his knees in relief as he stumbled down the landing ramp. He had been instructed by his 'Aunt' and Professor Ozpin to meet and greet his future fellow students to the academy and to escort them to the auditorium. The sight of the boy then throwing up was not what he had expected to see that morning.

Raising an eyebrow, he walked over to the boy and helped him to his feet. "You alright?" he asked, as the boy coughed.

"Y…yeah…thanks," the boy replied, smiling weakly. He held out a hand and continued. "The name's Jaune Arc, but the way."

"Seth," the Faunus returned the greeting, deciding not to mention the last name he was temporarily going under in case he reacted like Ruby had a few weeks earlier. "Looks like we're going to be fellow students, Jaune."

At this, the blonde boy frowned. "Really? I didn't see you on the transport." He then grinned ruefully. "Although that might be because I had my head buried in a trash can for most of the trip."

"Ah, not good at flying, huh?" Seth commented sympathetically. "No matter, you wouldn't have seen me anyway; I arrived at Beacon a bit before you guys did."

"How come?"

"Er…oh forget it," Seth grumbled, realising that he had already failed at keeping his pretend connections a secret. "Look, I'm related to one of the professors here but don't make a big deal out of it, okay?"

"Oh…well, sure; it's the least I can do for the first person who's been nice to me so far," Jaune promised. He then looked at Seth curiously. "Can I ask which professor you're related to?"

"Glynda Goodwitch…"

This was certainly not what Jaune had been expecting, as evidenced by the fact that he actually took a fearful step backwards from the Faunus.

"Wha…I mean…but you're a Faunus!" he blurted out and immediately regretted it when he saw the frown appear on Seth's face.

"Yeah, and my mother, Aunt Glynda's sister, married a wolf Faunus," Seth replied. He then studied Jaune for a moment before saying, "Why, you got a problem with that?"

Jaune hurriedly protested that he didn't, shaking his hands in front of him as if to ward off a possible attack from Seth who looked at him with amusement.

"Relax, Jaune; you don't seem like one of the many racists I've heard about and met so in my books you're alright."

Of course, being from the other side of Remnant where there was no such thing as prejudices against his kind he had never actually experienced them before, but he had been quickly caught up by Ozpin and Glynda on the current state of public opinions on Faunus equality. He had been especially educated on the White Fang, the Faunus equal rights movement that had recently become much more violent than they had in the past. It depressed him to think that his fellow Faunus felt the need to resort to such tactics and had vowed to root out the source of the problem if he was able to.

At that moment, he and Jaune heard an explosion come from behind them and they both whipped around. They were greeted to the sight of Ruby rubbing her nose guiltily as a girl with white hair and wearing white, fancy looking clothes and also covered in dust and ash shrieked at her.

"YOU ABSOLUTE DOLT!" the white clad girl yelled in anger. "WHY IN THE NAME OF THE GODS IS SOMEONE AS CLUMSY AS YOU BEING ALLOWED TO ENTER BEACON ACADEMY?" The girl shook a broken jar in front of Ruby's face then. "First, you bump me on the transport and almost cause my luggage to go everywhere, now you practically it up!"

Seeing the upset look on Ruby's face, and the angry look on a blonde girl that was comforting her, Seth sighed and quickly made his way over to the arguing group.

"Hey, what's going on here?" he asked when he was close enough to be heard.

The white clad girl whirled around, a stormy look on her face, and shouted, "Stay out of this you…" Her eyes flicked up to Seth's ears, noted them, and before she could stop herself, shouted, "…you mongrel!"

Almost immediately, the girl clamped a hand over her mouth, a horrified look on her face as all those within earshot froze and stared at Seth, whose own expression remained neutral. Nearby, a black haired girl with amber eyes and a bow on her head seemed to be more affected by the other girl's words, shooting a glare in her direction.

"I will assume that you didn't mean to call me that due to your current state," he said calmly, crossing his arms and looking at the girl who he could see did seem to regret her words. "So how about we start again…my name's Seth. What's yours?"

Collecting herself, the girl flicked her hair imperiously and said in reply, "Really? Do you actually not know who I am?"

"No, that's why I asked," Seth sighed, now starting to feel that he might dislike the girl before him after all.

Before she could respond, the black haired girl stepped forwards and answered for her. "She's Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

"Finally, some recognition!" Weiss smiled. Her smile dropped instantly at the other girl's next words however.

"And her family are known as some of the biggest anti-Faunus people around," the girl snapped. "They have many Faunus employees, but from what I've heard they're barely paid and have horrendous working conditions as well and that your father mistreats them whenever he can!"

"Excuse me?! I'll have you know that those rumours were all unfounded!" Weiss's fingers curled into a fist as she continued through gritted teeth. "And I am nothing like my father!"

"Is that so?" the other girl glared back. "Then why did you call that guy a 'mongrel' as soon as you saw his ears?"

Since it looked like another argument was about to erupt, Seth let out a piercing whistle at that moment, catching everyone's attention.

"Both of you please calm yourselves!" he said. He turned to the black haired girl. "I appreciate your concerns…."

Realising that he was waiting on her to introduce herself, the girl said, "Blake Belladonna."

"Right…anyway, as much as I appreciate you defending me, Blake Belladonna, as far as I'm concerned the sins of her father, if they exist, are not hers," Seth continued, surprising both Weiss and Blake, the heiress studying him for the first time. "Right now, I just want to know why Weiss was yelling at Ruby."

At the mention of her name, Ruby started before peering at the Faunus. It took her a moment, since Seth had been forced to wear the uniform of Beacon Academy and forgo his usual attire by Glynda before he was sent to greet the students and it had been a few days since she had seen him, but eventually she recognised him as the boy that had helped her against Roman.

"Ah…it's you!" she cried, pointing at Seth, who looked amused.

"Is pointing a finger at someone how you usually greet them?" he smirked, his tail waving slightly behind him as it emphasised his amusement.

"N…no!" Ruby protested.

This small interaction made Yang look between her sister and the Faunus boy, a grin on her face, before she stepped forward and held out a hand to Seth.

"Hey, sorry to butt in, Yang Xiao Long," she greeted him before rushing onto her next words. "I'm sorry, but how do you know my sister?"

"Yang…he's that guy I told you about, remember?" her sister whispered quickly in her ear. "You know, the one from the store?"

"Oh yeah, the…what was it…'cute' Faunus guy?" Yang smirked, watching Ruby's face go extremely red and her sister stammer to reply. "It was a great STORE-y, I will admit, especially when you got to the part about a knight in shining white armour saving you from taking a missile to the face."

At the pun that had been slipped into her sister's words, Ruby sighed, making Yang laugh. Seth then coughed and Ruby immediately remembered the other part of her sister's comment, causing her to groan and put a hand to her face.

"Actually, the one that saved us would be my aunt," Seth corrected Yang, deciding that there really was no point in lying about the lie of his relation to Glynda.

"Your aunt?" Yang repeated, frowning. "But I thought that…oh crap…" Yang, much like Jaune had earlier, took a step back as she realised who she was talking to and what Ruby had told her about Seth and Glynda Goodwitch.

"I get the feeling that I'm missing something," Weiss grumbled, slightly annoyed that she had been forgotten till that point.

"My aunt's Professor Glynda Goodwitch," Seth calmly explained.

Hearing this, every student that was watching the encounter suddenly froze, starting at the Faunus, except for Jaune, Ruby and Yang.

"You…you mean… _the_ Professor Goodwitch?" Weiss stammered, making sure that she had heard correctly.

"Unless there's more than one of my aunt, which I'll be honest sounds like an absolute nightmare, then yes, THAT Professor Goodwitch."

"Okay…I'm just going to go and _faint_..." the heiress mumbled.

"Before you go, you never told me why you were shouting at Ruby before," Seth reminded her.

"Oh…um…she may have…'accidentally' caused a dust explosion by sneezing near my stores of dust jars…" Weiss replied, wanting nothing more than to disappear into the ground right now, having learned that she had just called the nephew of one of her potential professors a terrible racial slur.

"That's it?" Seth asked. Weiss nodded and he switched his gaze to Ruby, who also nodded. "Alright then…since she caused it, despite it being an accident, I think that Ruby should apologise. Right, Ruby?" The red cloaked girl looked down at her feet and mumbled a quiet, but audible, apology. "Good. Now then, Weiss Schnee, since Ruby has now apologised, perhaps you should forgive her?"

"…Fine…you are forgiven," Weiss grumbled. "Just…be more careful around raw dust containers in future."

"Always good advice," Seth nodded. He then looked around at all of the other potential students. "Right, the headmaster sent me to greet you guys and lead you to the auditorium where he will give you a few words about tomorrow's initiation." Turning around, he gestured for them all to follow him. "So let's get going."

Leading the still slightly stunned Beacon hopefuls, Seth made his way to where he had been told to take them.

As they followed him, Yang whispered in Ruby's ear, "Okay…that was kind of hot how he took control of the situation like that. You should totally go for that!"

"Yannng!" Ruby hissed, sneaking a look at Seth to make sure he hadn't heard Yang's words. "Jeez, stop it already!"

Yang grinned. "Hey, if you won't I will!"

Ruby huffed and walked ahead. Yang giggled to herself and moved to catch up, walking past Blake who was also regarding the back of their guide with interest, and Weiss who was still looking mortified at the day's events. Thankfully for the heiress, or perhaps not, tomorrow would quickly make her forget about the confrontation with Glynda Goodwitch's Faunus nephew.

()()

"…and so I shall bid you children all adieu and wish you luck for tomorrow's initiation," Ozpin smiled, finishing his introduction and speech to the Beacon hopefuls about how he was expecting them to do great things during their time at Beacon. "Sleep well."

With his piece spoken, he and Professor Goodwitch walked out of the large auditorium, leaving behind the teenagers who set about claiming spots to put down their sleeping bags. In one part of the huge hall, Yang and Ruby found themselves settling down next to, of all people, Weiss, who shot a pointed glare at Ruby before shifting her sleeping bag as far away from them as she could. Despite Seth's earlier words to her, it seemed that she had already forgotten them in the wake of Professor Ozpin's speech.

Ruby sighed sadly as she watched the heiress check that all of her belongings were secure.

"At this rate I'll never make any more friends," she mumbled under her breath.

"Hey, don't be like that, Rubes," Yang said soothingly, putting a comforting arm around her sister. "I mean, you got that stud Seth, right?"

"I don't…he's…shut up!" Ruby grumbled, her cheeks going slightly red as her sister's words made her unwittingly think about the Faunus in question.

"Alright, alright, sorry," Yang smiled. She then looked around, her eyes fixing onto Blake Belladonna who was also nearby and was currently reading a thick looking book. "Hey, that's the girl who knew about Ice Queen over there." A mischievous grin spread across her face as an idea formed in her head on how to get her shy sister to interact with other people.

The blonde grabbed Ruby by the arm and dragged her, protesting and spluttering, towards the black haired girl who looked up when she sensed them approaching. For a moment, Yang could have sworn that she saw the bow on Blake's head twitch slightly, but decided that it was just a trick of the light.

"Can I help you?" Blake asked, peering at the two sisters over the top of her book.

"Hi, I'm Yang Xiao Long and this adorable little girl is my sister Ruby Rose!" Yang said brightly, pushing Ruby in front of her slightly. "Say hi, Ruby."

"Um…hi…" Ruby squeaked nervously.

"…Hi…" Blake replied before burying her face back in the depths of her book. A few seconds later she looked up again to see that Ruby and Yang were still watching her. "What?"

"Whatcha reading?" Yang asked, attempting to kick-start a conversation.

"Just something I brought with me," was the curt reply.

"Right…is it good?"

Blake sighed and lowered her book enough so that the two sisters could see the disgruntled expression on her face. "Is there something specific that you wanted?"

Yang grimaced. "Okay…I may have been trying to get Ruby to interact more and since we already kind of knew you…"

"You don't know me though."

"Well…true, but we were there when Seth totally took Ice Queen down a peg," Yang shrugged.

Unfortunately for Yang, Weiss heard her comment and stormed over to the group.

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about me, would you?" she demanded, scowling at Yang.

"So what if I was?" the blonde shot back.

"I would prefer that you refer to me by name if you're going to insist on talking about me behind my back!" The heiress then huffed before continuing. "And Seth did not 'take me down a peg or two'! He merely, and politely, showed me the errors of my ways!"

"A Schnee seeing the error of her ways?" Blake scoffed. "That'll be the day."

"Oh, it's you again," Weiss snapped, noticing Blake for the first time. "I'll thank you to stay out of this."

"Can't do that when you're screeching in my personal space!"

"SCREECHING?" Weiss screeched. "Why you…!"

"Hey, can you girls keep it down?" a familiar voice cut through the air, interrupting the argument that was about to escalate and making the girls look around.

There, standing a few feet away from them and dressed, in all things, a fuzzy wolf onesie was Seth Goodwitch, his arms crossed and an unamused look on his face.

"I'm starting to think if you four really are my age since all you do is bicker like kids!" he berated them. He noticed Ruby hesitantly raise her hand and amended his statement. "Okay, I take that back; Ruby, who is in fact younger than us, is the only one here who appears to be trying to act mature. Why don't you three take after her example?"

His words, and his outfit, left Yang, Blake and Weiss completely dumbstruck though Yang let out a snort of laughter at the sight of Seth in his sleeping attire. Predictably, it was Weiss who regained her senses first and pointed accusingly at Yang.

"She started it! She was talking about me behind my back!"

"So be the bigger person and let it go, Weiss Schnee," Seth sighed. "It's called keeping a cool head and not losing it in the heat of the moment." He then glanced at Yang as she snickered. "What?"

"Sorry, just appreciating a quality pun!" she coughed, sobering quickly as Seth's blue eyes locked onto her own lilac eyes.

"What pun?"

Yang, realising that Seth hadn't actually been punning, pouted and went quiet. Seth shook his head in confusion but decided not to comment.

"Moving on…something I suggest you do, Weiss," he continued, looking pointedly at the heiress. "If truly do need to have the need to argue further, please do it in a manner that won't keep our fellow students from their rest; they'll need it for tomorrow's initiation."

"Don't you mean 'we'll' need it for tomorrow's initiation?" Ruby asked.

Seth sent her a small smile. "Not me; apparently Professor Ozpin has something special for me in mind."

"Then why are you hear in that absolutely…fantastic…outfit?" Yang snickered.

"My dear aunt decided, or should I say 'insisted', that I sleep here as well," Seth grunted. "She's also the reason I'm wearing this, her sick idea of a punishment for what happened two weeks ago." He looked pointedly at Ruby as he mentioned the incident involving Roman, causing the smaller girl to let out a guilty giggle. "Anyway, I'm going back to my cosy spot in the corner and I swear to the moon if I have to come back over here I will tie all three of you down in your sleeping bags and gag you."

"Sounds like fun!" Yang commented slyly, winking at the Faunus.

"You…are really weird, you know that?" Seth remarked, much to Yang's amusement.

"I know, but if there wasn't at least one weird person then the world would be a really dull place!"

This brought an actual grin to the Faunus. "Got me there. Now good night and seriously; shut up."

With that, Seth turned on his heel and walked off, Yang snorting with laughter when she saw that his tail was wagging slightly.

"You know what, now I really like him!" she said, causing Weiss to huff and stalk off, Ruby to sigh and Blake to simply lie down on her sleeping bad and turn her back on them.

()()()()()()()()()()()

"Finally we have Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna!" Ozpin announced, standing on small stage in the auditorium and gesturing at the girls in question who were standing in front of him. "Together you shall be Team RWBY and your team leader shall be…Ruby Rose!"

Ruby blinked in shock when she heard that she would be leading her team for the next four years before Yang through her arms around her.

"I'm so proud, sis!" she cried. "You definitely deserve it for showing us the way during that Nevermore fight with Team JNPR!"

Ruby looked over at the team that had been formed before them and noticed that they were clapping especially loudly, having fought beside Ruby and her new team when a giant Nevermore Grimm had ambushed them during their initiation. Team JNPR had been formed from Jaune Arc, a red haired, emerald eyed girl called Pyrrha Nikos, the hyperactive orange haired and turquoise eyed Nora Valkyrie and the quiet black ponytailed and magenta eyed Lie Ren.

"Congratulations," Blake said quietly now.

Weiss, on the other hand, seemed less than pleased at the results of the ceremony and simply sat down on the nearest empty seat with crossed arms and legs.

As her team joined her, their attention was returned to Ozpin when he cleared his throat and stepped forwards.

"Now, I know that you are all proud of passing your initiation, but now I have something a little different for what's to come next." The headmaster of Beacon turned and gestured to someone off stage.

In the midst of the murmurs that were starting, the newly assembled teams saw Seth, now in his usual combat attire with his hood up. However, what brought out a shriek of excitement from one Nora Valkyrie was the huge white wolf that padded beside the Faunus.

"BIG DOGGY!" she shouted and attempted to jump out of her seat. Thankfully Ren managed to grab her around the waist and pull her back down into her seat before she leapt onto the stage.

Choosing to ignore the minor scuffle and the rather loud words from Nora, Professor Ozpin continued.

"Now, this young man is Seth Goodwitch. Yes, he is related to our own Professor Goodwitch, her nephew in fact, but he has insisted that you all think of him as anything but that during your time here." Beacon's headmaster clapped a hand on Seth's shoulder then. "He is a special case; his aunt wants him to both learn to be a hunter and to be her future teacher's assistant! Therefore he won't be joining a team." These words made the murmurs from the other first year students grow louder.

Luckily for Ozpin, both Glynda and Seth had agreed, somewhat begrudgingly, to his improvements to Seth's cover story otherwise the 'aunt' and 'nephew' duo might have had words for him later.

"Considering this, I have decided to arrange a unique trial for young Seth to complete." Pausing for dramatic effect, immediately causing Glynda to cough pointedly. Smirking slightly, Ozpin continued. "He must survive in the Emerald Forest for one hour and kill two hundred Grimm before the timer runs out."

This sent the murmurs into a frenzy of gasps and scoffs. Holding up his hand to quiet them down, Ozpin nodded to Seth who motioned for Fenris to sit before making his way outside and to the edge of the cliff that overlooked the sprawling Emerald Forest. Ozpin turned to a large screen that hung on the wall behind him and a second later the assembled students saw Seth through the lenses of several of Ozpin's drones.

"Right annnnd….launch!" Ozpin commanded, swiping his hand down.

A moment later Seth went flying through the air, his tail and ears flapping in the winds and the drones rushing to keep up with him.

()()

Seth had time to contemplate how exactly his life had led to him being flung through the air by a psychotic headmaster's strange idea of transport before he saw a tree directly in his path. He didn't react however as his body went translucent and he passed straight through it.

Several seconds later, his body passed straight through the ground and for a moment he disappeared before he rose out of the ground a few feet away. To those watching, he almost resembled a ghost.

Looking around, Seth quickly unhooked his mask from his belt and placed it on his head. Unseen to those watching, lights flickered briefly on the inner surface if the mask before a head's-up display appeared in front of his eyes. It briefly cycled through several different visual modes before settling on a basic view of his surroundings.

As soon as the mask had finished coming online, Lexi's calm voice filled his ears.

"So, that was interesting," she commented, referring to the flight down to the Emerald Forest. "I'm kind of glad that Commander Steel's methods of deployment are much less insane than that of Professor Ozpin's."

Smiling under his mask, Seth replied, "That's for sure, though never mention this to the him."

"Noted." Lexi paused for a moment as she scanned the surrounding area. "Good news though; there a quite a lot of Grimm already moving towards us. They must still be riled up from the other students crashing through here earlier."

"Probably why he insisted I do my trial after the main initiation," Seth commented as he made his way in the direction that his HUD was indicating that the Grimm were approaching. "Great…he's both crazy _and_ smart."

()()

Back in the auditorium, Seth had already caused a stir amongst the students watching him walk through the forest. When he had put on his mask, several of the human students had let out angry noises but were quickly pacified when Ozpin explained that Seth had no connection to the White Fang.

Once the angry murmurs had died down, the next thing that made them talk amongst themselves was Seth's apparent Semblance.

"Interesting Semblance he has there," Blake observed. "Intangibility is certainly useful, both against Grimm and regular opponents."

"Oh, just wait until you see his weapon!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly, bouncing in her seat with her eyes fixed to the screen. "It's totally awesome and can turn into a huge warhammer and a huge greatsword!"

"My baby sister has already seen a boy's 'huge weapon'?" Yang snickered, pretending to be shocked. "Maybe I need to teach him a lesson!"

The innuendo went completely over Ruby's head, both because she didn't understand it and because she was too focussed on watching Seth's progress. Weiss and Blake on the other hand knew what Yang was hinting at and both blushed.

"Can you not?" Weiss hissed.

Yang merely grinned at the heiress and returned her attention to the screen.

()()

Seth stopped when he heard growls coming from all around him. His mask switched to a grey coloured vision that enabled him to see Grimm in dense environments like forests.

"I see about…thirteen 'beowolves', still not used to calling them that, circling me," he muttered.

"Do you need me to manifest my digi-cannons?" Lexi inquired.

"Nah, these are just small fries," Seth replied, bringing out his weapon Infinite Mystery and holding it out. A moment later its warhammer form appeared and he swung it around over his head before slamming the end of its shaft into the ground. "Besides, we should try and keep your existence a secret from the others here for as long as we can."

"Affirmative," Lexi responded and went silent.

As she did so, the beowolves rushed out from under the cover of the tree branches and charged towards their prey.

Under his mask, Seth grinned, his unseen eyes flashing and changing colour from a light blue to crystal white.

"Time to hunt."

()()

"Wow…you weren't kidding about the hammer, Rubes," Yang whistled.

"Yeah, well, my Magnhild's totally cooler than that!" Nora pouted, even though her eyes were still locked onto Fenris.

"Hey…is it just me but doesn't it look it's started snowing?" Blake interrupted, pointing at the screen.

When the others looked up, they saw to their surprise that the surrounding trees appeared to have frost starting to form on their leaves and branches, small flakes of snow flying through the air.

"Huh, I think you're right, Blake," Yang commented.

A moment later, every student gathered in the hall let out cries of surprise when Seth's form seemed to blur before disappearing.

"Hey, where did he go?" Ruby wondered.

Her question was soon answered when Seth reappeared several feet away from his starting position with his hammer now in the opposite hand. As for the beowolves, more surprised noises came from the mouths of the students when they all burst into shadows and melted away, signalling that they had all been defeated at the same time.

"Woah, he might be even faster than you, sis!" Yang exclaimed.

Ruby could only nod, wide-eyed, in agreement.

()()

A few seconds after he had destroyed the first pack of beowolves, Seth was set upon by an even larger pack. However, before they could even reach him large spikes of ice erupted from the ground and impaled all of them, retracting once the Grimm had melted away. He then looked around as the ground began to shake before creating a pillar of ice to rise up beneath him, lifting the Faunus into the air just in time to avoid the pincers of three huge deathstalkers, scorpion-like Grimm that liked to ambush their prey from below the ground.

"Nice try…er…'deathstalkers', but you'll have to try harder than that!" Seth growled.

The Faunus then leaped off his ice pillar and flew through the air towards the nearest deathstalker. During his descent, he returned his weapon to its rod form before twisting it and splitting it into two pieces. A moment later twin shotguns appeared and he fired into his target's head.

The deathstalker screeched and stumbled backwards and Seth landed right in front of it. The Grimm reflexively tried to impale him with the huge stinger on its tail but it passed straight through and instead buried itself into the ground. Seth's ghostly form stepped to the side before resolidifying next to the stuck tail.

"Gotcha, dumbass," he growled and stuck both of his shotguns' muzzles into the deathstalkers mouth and pulling the triggers.

A moment later the back of the deathstalker's head exploded outwards and it quickly disintegrated. Seth then quickly changed his left shotgun into a large round shield and his right shotgun into a sword just in time to block simultaneous stinger strikes from the remaining two deathstalkers.

Grunting, Seth's outline blurred again before he reappeared above the deathstalker to his right. Plunging down, his sword pierced the head of his target and as it let out a death shriek he disappeared and reappeared behind the remaining deathstalker.

"Special delivery!" the Faunus yelled and his sword and shield disappeared.

Seth quickly slammed the two halves of his rod back into its singular form before he held it out. A moment later a large cannon took its place. When the Faunus fired it, he was pushed backwards by the recoil as several missiles shot out of it. The deathstalker disappeared in a plume of fire and smoke and when it dissipated there was nothing left of the Grimm.

As the cannon disappeared, Seth asked Lexi what his kill tally was up to.

"Tally stands at twenty-eight beowolves and three deathstalkers for a grand total of thirty-three Grimm in just under twelve minutes."

"Huh…that old weirdo should've made the target tally higher."

()()

For the next half hour, the gathered students watched in awe as Seth slaughtered his way through the growing number of Grimm that were determined to rid their territory of the intruder.

"So…he's terrifying…and did he just head-butt an Ursa Major?" Yang asked conversationally as she indeed saw the white clad Faunus head-butt a giant, bear-like Grimm, causing it to stagger before using his warhammer to crush its skull.

"How the hell is he that powerful?" Jaune spoke up.

"I think the question is how many forms can his weapon take?" Ruby exclaimed, seeing even more forms of Seth's weapons than she already had.

"A warhammer, a sword and shield, twin shotguns and a cannon that shoots multiple missiles," Pyrrha counted off. "Also that greatsword you mentioned so that's about five weapons, six if you count the sword and shield as separate weapons."

"Damn, that's a lot!" Yang whistled, impressed. "Wonder what else he's hiding with that 'rod'?"

The other's groaned at Yang's words as they heard the obvious innuendo, apart from Ruby who had no idea what the matter was.

()()

"One hundred and eighty-seven…one hundred and eighty-eight…" Lexi slowly counted. Her voice then sighed as Seth obliterated a group of ten Grimm at once with giant spikes of ice. "One hundred and _ninety_ -eight…" She paused in her counting as she detected two nevermores arrive on the scene. "Oh look, your last two targets! And with almost ten minutes to spare."

"Then let's get this done!" Seth roared and held out his free hand.

Two spears of ice, even larger than the ones that he had created earlier began to form above him, both almost twenty metres long and wickedly sharp at their tips. As the nevermores descended he shot the spears straight upwards.

The first spear ripped straight into one of the nevermore's open beak, tearing straight through it and shattering, sending icy projectiles shredding it from the inside out. The last nevermore managed to initially veer away from the second icy spear, but Seth flicked his finger and the spear changed course, impaling the flying Grimm and also exploding as soon as it hit its target.

As the Grimm's body disintegrated, Seth turned around and looked up at the nearest drone that was still following his progress.

"Hey, old man; done!"

()()

"I really wish he would stop calling me 'old man'," Ozpin sighed. He then took out his scroll and contacted Seth. "Alright, _young_ man, feel free to come on back."

Putting the scroll away, he descended into a contemplative silence as he watched Seth battle his way through the remaining Grimm and back towards the cliff.

" _Yes…this year is certainly going to be interesting…"_

()()()()()()()()()()()

Meanwhile, on the other side of Remnant, a group of six people were gathered around a holographic map of the nearby area that hung in the air between them.

One of the men, a middle-aged man wearing plated armour that resembled that of a golden knight without the helmet glanced at the other five.

"And we still aren't picking up any signals from the Shrike?" he asked.

"Unfortunately no, Commander Steel," a female cat Faunus wearing a purple and black kimono with two large metal shields shaped like lotuses attached to her arms replied. "Bibi can't connect to Lexi either; none of the Seekers have been able to."

"Dammit!" Commander Steel growled in frustration. "It's been nearly a month since Seth disappeared! Where the hell could he have ended up?"

The others glanced at each other helplessly, not being able to answer their commander's question.

()()()()()()()()()()()

 _And that's it, folks. Stay tuned for the next chapter and here's a short bio on another one of the Inheritors and their Seeker, the cat Faunus Melanie Warren and Bibi (I've decided to do one of these after every chapter)_

 _ **Melanie Warren**_

 _ **Cat Faunus, 41**_

 _ **Appearance: Delicate, refined features, long black hair that is tied back in a ponytail and purple eyes.**_

 _ **Inheritor Abilities: (Patient Shield)- Makes Melanie completely immune to being knocked back, greatly increases the strength of her aura and projects an invisible dome that protects her allies in the same manner. She can also summon spears of metal from the ground to impale her enemies and has naturally boosted strength (she is the physically strongest of the Inheritors despite her slender frame). Her familiar is Atlas the Immovable, a huge metal golem that can project an even large dome of protection (about the size of a small city) and can also summon metal spears.**_

 _ **Semblance: Farseer- Allows Melanie to see up to three seconds into the future.**_

 _ **Weapon: Fire and Ice (twin shields)- Two shields in the shapes of lotus flowers that can block any attack. They can also, as their name suggests, be imbued with Fire and Ice dust to project either an aura of flames around her (the left shield) or rapidly shoot icy projectiles (the right shield)**_

 _ **Attire: Generally wears a purple and black kimono that has lotus motifs randomly spaced on its surface and geta footwear (Japanese clogs).**_

 _ **Synthetic Intelligence Combat Assistant (Seeker) B-181 'Bibi'**_

 _ **Intelligent Construct, 38 (since coming online)**_

 _ **Appearance: A woman in her early twenties with purple hair and the same eye colour as Lexi (standard eye colouring for Seekers)**_

 _ **Abilities: hacking and can construct digital versions of Grimm.**_

 _ **Modes: Horde mode (continuously constructs small digi-Grimm to lockdown a valuable point), Destroyer mode (constructs giant digi-turrets that fire single shot destroyer rounds capable of destroying necrodragons in one shot), Unshackled Combat Mode (deploys both digi-Grimm and digi-turrets)**_

 _ **Armaments: Relies solely on her digi-constructs**_

 _ **Attire: Wears a lad-coat and holographic glasses.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_Apologies for the long wait between this chapter and the last, work has been a real bitch lately and may disrupt future uploads. Just a fair warning and an explanation._

 _Also from this point onward the first half of future chapters will be dedicated to the regular cast, while the last will focus more on the other side's cast. I may mix it up and have chapters focussed primarily on either cast but I want to experiment and introduce the other OCs before they meet with the main cast._

 _In any case, enjoy._

()()()()()()

-Chapter Three- First days are always the hardest

 _Two days after the initiations…_

Ruby fidgeted as she sat waiting for Professor Goodwitch in the combat arena of Beacon Academy. The day had already been fairly hectic for her, her team having almost been late for their very first class which the heiress of the team was not about to let them forget. However, despite that, Ruby found her excitement growing again at the prospect of fighting the other teams.

Or perhaps if she was truly honest with herself, the prospect of seeing the many varied weapons of her fellow first years in action.

Already she had seen weapons that nearly made her drool with 'professional' eagerness, such as the giant hammer Nora Valkyrie of Team JNPR wielded that doubled as a grenade launcher, or the glaive she saw strapped to the back of a silver haired boy who was chatting with one of his teammates. She had even seen a rather strange weapon that seemed to be many different guns strapped together that a tall Faunus boy was looking over.

As she tried to figure out what guns were represented in the Faunus' weapon, her attention was drawn to the door of the arena opening. A moment later the severe looking Professor Goodwitch walked smarty through it, casting a critical eye at the students sitting in the various seats of the arena's viewing rings. Following her a few seconds later was her nephew, the wolf Faunus that had many of her fellow students either glaring at him or whispering about in interest. Although in Nora's case, the sight of the giant wolf Fenris was more noteworthy.

When she had reached the centre of the arena, Professor Goodwitch cleared her throat and said in a loud voice, "Right, I'm going to start off by saying that there is only one rule in this class that you all must obey: Do not tall back to or question my words." She glanced over her shoulder at Seth, who merely smirked and leant against the inner wall of the arena. "With that, I will inform you that to pass this class you must show all of the skill and knowledge that is expected of a future hunter or huntress…and then exceed them." Here, she glared at every single one of her students. "I will not tolerate slackers or fools. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby replied along with the rest of the class, though it was clear to her that there were several teams that looked annoyed at the professor's words.

Professor Goodwitch nodded with satisfaction before gesturing for Seth to join her.

"Now, in case any of you have forgotten this is my nephew, Seth Goodwitch. While he is going to be my assistant for your duration here he will also be training alongside you so I would appreciate if you would treat him as such." She smirked slightly. "It will be an exercise in social interaction for him, a lesson he sorely needs."

"Thanks for that…introduction Aunt Glynda," Seth said sarcastically. "Never mind the fact that I already had that discussion when I escorted them to the auditorium."

"It never hurts to make sure, nephew," Professor Goodwitch replied coolly. She then addressed the rest of the class. "For your first day here, I wish to see how your teamwork stands in this first hurdle of your careers."

"Will we be fighting Grimm?" a rainbow haired girl asked interestedly.

Aunt and nephew shared a small grin before the professor answered. "No; you and your team will be testing yourself against my dear nephew." She glanced at Fenris. "Minus his wolf, of course."

At these words, every eye shot to stare at the Faunus who had a look of utter relaxedness on his face. Some of the humans among their number scoffed at the thought that their first opponent was going to be a lone Faunus.

One particularly loudmouthed student spoke out about his opinion on the matter.

"You can't be serious, professor!" he snapped. "What kind of challenge would that be? Pit us against a Grimm or something more worthy!"

"Mister Winchester…!" Professor Goodwitch began, but she was interrupted when Seth held up a hand.

"It's alright, aunt," he assured her. He then fixed the boy, Cardin Winchester, with a contemplative look. "I'm assuming by your words that you're one of those humans that think my kind is beneath yours?"

"Got a problem with that?" Cardin shot back aggressively.

"Maybe…if you can back up your words with actions," Seth commented, still sounding calm. "How about you and I have a one on one duel and we'll see who's right?"

"Ha, I'm gonna enjoy putting you in your place!" Cardin announced mockingly, quickly jumping down into the arena and brandishing his weapon, a large black mace.

Seth nodded to Glynda, who sighed but nevertheless withdrew from the arena proper and took her place in the stands.

"Combatants…are you ready?" she asked loudly, looking between her nephew and Cardin. When both nodded, she shouted. "Then…BEGIN!"

With the word given, Cardin immediately charged headfirst towards the Faunus, who calmly stood in place as he waited for his opponent to reach him.

"Hey…he hasn't brought out his weapon," Yang observed, surprised.

"Don't forget, his semblance is intangibility," Blake reminded her teammate. "I suspect that he will use it, which will mean that Cardin will pass right through him, and then Seth will counterattack in some way once he's behind him."

To those who heard the black haired girl's words, it made sense. What surprised them was that the next few seconds didn't go at all like she had assumed.

Instead of activating his semblance, Seth merely held up a hand and caught Cardin's mace without even flinching.

"What the hell?" Cardin growled. He tried to withdraw his mace from the Faunus' grip but found that even with all of his strength Seth's hand remained gripped to his weapon. "Hey, let go!"

"Nice weapon," Seth commented as he studied the mace in a detached manner. "Shame it's used by someone as stupid as you are."

Without even giving Cardin a chance to retort, Seth suddenly kicked him in the stomach and the boy immediately flew backwards, losing his grip on his weapon as he impacted the wall behind him. The force of the impact was so great that the arena wall cracked and a crater was formed by the boy's body hitting it. A second later, the screen that had been showing both combatant's aura levels once the fight had started blared out a warning due to the fact that Cardin's aura had instantly gone down from one hundred percent to a shocking two percent.

"Be grateful I held back, dumbass," Seth growled, all traces of calmness gone as he glared at Cardin.

"Language!" Glynda barked, causing Seth to roll his eyes.

"Sorry, Aunt Glynda," he sighed.

At that moment, there was a roar of anger and the watching students gasped as Cardin rose to his feet, mace in hand, and charged like a bull straight at Seth which was impressive due to his extremely low aura. This time, Seth did activate his semblance, the enraged hunter in training passing straight through him. The Faunus then kicked Cardin's feet out from under him. As the boy hit the ground, the last two percentage of his aura dipped down to zero.

"I suggest that you give up now, Winchester," Seth advised coldly. A growl from Fenris, who had by now joined his master, emphasised his words.

Far from surrendering, Cardin instead spitefully shouted for his teammates to attack Seth.

The rest of Team CRDL consisting of Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark, jumped into the arena and slowly began to circle the Faunus. When he reached Cardin Sky dragged him to the side and propped his team leader up against the wall before rejoining his companions.

Seth sighed and glanced at Glynda. "Can I…?" he began to ask.

"Just don't kill them, nephew," Glynda said, already knowing what he was going to ask.

"Thanks."

With that, Seth tapped his foot on the ground and instantly all three of his opponents were encased in ice up to their necks and as much as they struggled they were unable to free themselves. He then raised his left hand and three long spears of ice quickly formed, one aimed at each trapped boy.

"Give me a reason and you three idiots will be going through your time here at Beacon with one arm missing," Seth growled.

"Do…do your worst!" Russel stuttered, partly from the freezing temperature of the ice and partly from false bravado.

"Alright then."

Seth flicked his hand down before Glynda could stop him. She needn't have worried however since Seth had aimed the icy spears so that they would pass mere centimetres from their faces and cause no harm. What he didn't stop were the shrill screams of fear that issued out of all three of the boys' mouths. Hearing the screams made the rest of the class let out snorts of laughter, mainly from the several Faunus who were pleased to see one of their kind utterly humiliate such obvious racists.

"Wow…that just happened…" Seth commented, smirking slightly. "Didn't realise that Winchester was on a team of disguised girls." He glanced up at the other students. "Apologies to you actual girls."

"Are you quite done?" Glynda asked, a note of disapproval in her voice.

"Yeah, I think they got the message," Seth replied. " _Right_ , guys?" He added a threatening undertone to his last two words.

The trapped boys gulped and quickly nodded their heads. To their relief, this seemed to satisfy Seth and the Faunus released them from their icy prisons.

"You might want to get your stupid leader to the infirmary," Seth continued. "Though I'm not sure if they have anything for dumbassery or racism."

"Language!" Glynda repeated her earlier words, earning another eye-roll from her nephew.

As Team CRDL left the arena, Seth moved to sit in the viewing stands a few feet away from the other students, Fenris settling down next to him. He ignored the looks from his classmates as he sat down, choosing instead to ruffle the fur between Fenris' ears once the wolf was settled.

"Wow, he gets better and better!" Yang whispered to her sister. "Seriously Ruby, if you don't go for him I will."

"Stop saying that!" Ruby hissed, now more annoyed than embarrassed at the implications of her sister's words.

"Sorry, Rubes," Yang sighed, seeing the irritation on her sister's face. "I just feel like it would be nice if you landed a nice guy, either Seth or someone else."

"Dad probably wouldn't think that," Ruby mumbled, which Yang reluctantly agreed with; when it came to boys their father was very overprotective.

As they spoke, Glynda was ordered two of the other teams to make their way down to the arena, the teams being Team JNPR and Team MMBLE.

Seth leaned forwards with interest, his eyes on Pyrrha who he had heard about through the gossip of different students.

"Wonder if she lives up to the hype?" he asked Fenris softly. The wolf's only reply was a disinterested huff.

In the first few minutes of the fight between the two teams, Seth decided that Pyrrha did indeed match the expectations of his peers as the red haired Spartan easily dispatched two of the opposing team. Seth then frowned when he saw Jaune clearly struggling against his own opponent.

" _Hmm…Jaune needs to get better than that if he wants to get anywhere,"_ he thought to himself as he watched the blonde leader of Team JNPR get eliminated. _"A LOT better…"_

()()

After Team JNPR's victory over Team MMBLE, Jaune sighed as he slumped back down on his seat.

"That was really close," he muttered, slightly annoyed with himself that he had been the only one of his team that had been knocked out.

"Hey, don't look so sad, team leader!" Nora smiled cheerily. "I can make you pancakes to make you feel better if ya want!" A blissful look crossed her face then. "Or maybe I'll just make pancakes anyway!"

"You did fine, Jaune," Pyrrha quickly tried to comfort her leader. "Even though you lost your bout you gave a good account of yourself."

"I didn't even touch Marni," Jaune pointed out dejectedly, referring to the opposing team's leader.

"Yes…well…" Pyrrha struggled to find anything else to say that might bring the blonde boy's mood up but in the end went quiet.

Jaune noted the fact that his teammate went silent and slumped down even further in his seat. Letting out a great sigh, he was startled when a hand suddenly patted him on the shoulder. Looking up, Jaune let out a surprised yelp when he saw the furry face of Fenris looking down at him.

"AHHHHHH…I mean, hey…" he stuttered, sitting bolt upright and almost head-butting the wolf, which moved back just in time. "Er…did you need something, boy?"

An amused chuckle sounded from nearby and Team JNPR looked around to see that, obviously, it had been Seth that had tapped Jaune's shoulder and not Fenris.

"If he needs anything, it's to not get knocked out by you, Jaune," the Faunus joked. He then sat in the seat behind the blonde boy and studied him. "Anyway…I was just wondering how you guys were feeling after that bout? Since I'm an assistant teacher I guess I should start acting like it."

Jaune glanced at his team, who shrugged, and replied, "Alright, I guess. I mean, we won and that's what counts isn't it?"

A frown appeared on Seth's face at these words.

"The point of the exercise was not about winning, Jaune," he pointed out. "It was to assess the level of teamwork you could exhibit, despite this being the first real day you've been together." Seth grimaced then. "I know that, in reality, I don't really have any right to criticise people the same age as me in this way but I like you guys so I want to help to the best of my abilities."

"That's…thanks, man," Jaune said, slightly touched by the Faunus' sincerity.

"You didn't answer the question, by the way."

"Oh…well, I thought we did alright," Jaune considered. His face fell. "But I will admit that it…feels like I failed the team since I was the only one that got eliminated."

"What would you have done differently?"

"…Not get eliminated?" Jaune replied, smiling weakly.

"That's certainly a start," Seth sighed. "I meant is there anything you'd change about how you actually fought as a team?"

"Um…"

The Faunus pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look Jaune, while I'm certainly not trying to tell you what to do, but as the leader of a team now it's your job to communicate with said team during a fight. You did no communicating at all; instead, you let your teammates do their own thing and while that may have worked today you're going to need to work on that." Seth raised a finger then. "There's a saying where I come from: 'A silent team is a dead team'. Do you understand what that might mean?"

Jaune thought about it and as he realised the meaning his heart sank. "It means that if we don't learn to talk to each other during a fight we'll end up dead?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Seth nodded approvingly. "And since I'd prefer not to have some of my classmates suffer such a fate, please for the love of the moon start talking to each other. I'd suggest having at least one day every week dedicated to simply learning all you can about each other, especially your partner." He glanced at Pyrrha. "You have a strong partner here in Pyrrha, Jaune; don't let her end up lost because you felt uncomfortable or anything."

"Right, I hear you," Jaune smiled faintly. "Talk to my team and get to know them; sounds like fun."

"It's not for 'fun' that I give you this advice; it's for your survival," Seth replied sternly, locking eyes with Jaune for a moment before returning the smile. "Of course, that doesn't have to stop it being fun in the process, just try and find a balance between both." The Faunus then stood up and made to leave, but before he did so he glanced over his shoulder and said, "Another piece of advice: maybe get some more training in. It wasn't just lack of communication that caused your loss."

With his piece said Seth left Team JNPR to their own devices, Fenris following a few steps behind.

"Hmph, what gives him the right to talk to us like that?" Nora huffed.

"It was sound advice he gave, Nora," Ren said. "And he was right; we didn't say a single thing to each other during that entire fight."

"We'll work on it," Jaune promised his team, a slight look of determination on his face now. He then turned to Pyrrha. "Hey Pyrrha, since you're probably the best fighter on our team, no offense Ren and Nora, can you help us with training?"

"Of course, I'm more than happy to do that for you," Pyrrha replied, smiling widely. She then coughed, a pink tinge to her cheeks. "I mean, not just _you_ …the entire team…yeah…"

"Thanks, that'll mean a lot," Jaune said earnestly, completely missing the knowing looks that Ren and Nora shared, although in Nora's case it was more of a smirk, and the blush in Pyrrha's cheeks.

In his head he was determined not to let his team, or Seth, down.

()()

"Ow ow ow!" Seth grunted as Glynda pinched his ear. "What was that for?"

"Didn't I tell you to behave yourself before we got to class?" Glynda snapped.

"And I did!"

"Going overboard during your fight with the Winchester boy is you behaving?" the professor scoffed.

"To be fair, he kind of deserved it," Seth muttered stubbornly.

"That may be so, but being able to keep one's patience when dealing with someone like Mister Winchester is a sign of maturity."

Seth glared at Glynda for a few seconds before sighing. "This side of Remnant is a lot different from Union."

Glynda smiled slightly. "I know, but try to bear with it; Mister Winchester represents but a small fraction of the local populace."

"Why, 'Aunty' Glynda, one would almost mistake you for being nice!" the wolf Faunus smirked.

"And one should know when to keep his mouth shut lest one gets his ear pulled again," Glynda replied seriously. "Now, you have a half hour break before you have to report to your next class so get out of here, 'nephew'."

"Sure thing, aunty," Seth laughed.

As he left, Glynda sighed. "That boy will have me a grey haired crone at the rate he's going and it's only been a month!"

()()()()()()()()()

 _Other side of Remnant._

"Here comes another wave!" Captain Malik shouted as a fresh horde of Grimm was spotted rushing towards his unit's defensive line.

"By the Moon, there're at least three ogres, sir!" one of his soldiers growled.

"I noticed, just keep firing!" Malik replied sarcastically as he aimed his cannon at the oncoming Grimm. "Focus on the small ones, let the dreadsuits deal with the big uglies!"

For the past three hours, the western wall of the city of Valor had been assaulted relentlessly by thousands of Grimm, with dozens of various massive Apex class Grimm destroying parts of the wall in the process. Thankfully, the defending forces had the support of several dreadsuits of the Grimmguard. The large walkers, almost as tall as the Apex Grimm, were able to defend whatever breaches were caused, albeit barely.

"Sir, we just lost three dreadsuits!" Malik's communications officer shouted, listening intently to the garbled reports that were being given. "The wall's been breached!"

"Dammit!" Malik growled, frustrated that the battle now seemed to be starting to turn against them. He then looked to his left as he heard an explosion and saw the nearest dreadsuit, a large Shredder class mech fitted with four storm cannons, fall underneath a combined assault from an ogre and dozens of smaller imp Grimm. "Dammit!"

Suddenly, the air seemed to vibrate with energy before a wall of light began to form just in front of the defenders' lines. A low rumble followed and Malik and his unit all looked up to see a gigantic metal golem standing just behind the wall with its hands out and all of them knew what it meant.

"Thank the Moon; an Inheritor's arrived!" the captain sighed with relief as his men cheered. "Even better, it's Melanie Warren, Valor's own!"

"Indeed, Captain Malik; I could hardly let my home city be destroyed by the forces of darkness after all," a calm voice suddenly spoke up from behind him, causing Malik to start and look around.

Standing just on the lip of the trench was a delicate looking female cat Faunus dressed in a lotus patterned kimono, wooden clogs and with two massive lotus shaped shields attached to her arms that were both bigger than her.

Turning around to smile serenely down at the captain, Melanie Warren said, "You and your men can relax now; I won't let any of you fall." Even as she spoke, giant spikes of metal erupted from the ground and impaled every ogre that was nearby. Then, almost as an afterthought, she continued. "Oh…and I brought some company with me."

"Who?" Malik asked.

"Unfortunately, my husband is otherwise occupied defending Bastion and Zero and Lilia have been sent to search for Seth," Melanie replied, her ears flicking slightly. "But Ari is more than enough support for this kind of skirmish."

Almost as if her words had been a signal, there was a boom from the direction of the city before several Grimm exploded into dust.

"Dear Ari shall eliminate the horde, and I shall provide the defence," Melanie explained, raising her hand and grabbing an imp by its throat as it leaped at her. Without even looking at it she snapped the Grimm's neck and dropped the body to the ground as it dissolved into shadows. "Of course, if you so wish you and your men may aid in our efforts, but my opinion is that you have all earned a rest."

Malik grinned and readied his cannon. "With all due respect ma'am: a soldier of Valor never rests until every Grimm in his sight is gone from it!"

Melanie smiled and nodded. "Very well, captain; let us defend our home together then!"

With that, the Faunus turned around and readied herself as a fresh wave of Grimm poured through the intangible barrier that unfortunately only stopped projectiles.

()()()()

After what felt like hours to Valor's defenders, the Grimm hordes were finally pushed back, any survivors being eliminated by the still unseen Inheritor shooting from the city. When the last Grimm vanished into the forest that ringed Valor, Melanie waved and a second later a green tinged portal opened up next to her.

Stepping though the portal was a nervous looking teenaged girl wearing the standardised Faunus armour of the Grimmguard and a black cloak over it with the hood currently down. On her back was a long, deadly looking spear that Captain Malik knew from various field reports could turn into an even deadlier sniper rifle. Finally, perched atop the girl's shoulder was a small raven with faintly glowing blue feathers. Malik assumed that the bird was her Seeker unit, but was slightly confused since every other Seeker he had seen was humanoid in appearance.

As Malik studied her, the girl hid behind Melanie, who let out a sigh.

"Now, now Ari, it's not very polite to do that," she admonished the girl gently. "Especially when you went through so much trouble to save him."

Ari peeked shyly at Captain Malik from around the older Faunus's sleeves and looked apologetically at him.

"Er, it's no problem, ma'am," the captain quickly assured Melanie, smiling encouragingly at Ari, who returned the gesture faintly. "I'm more concerned about the damage to the Valor's defences." He looked irritably around. "Those moon-damned Grimm took out several cannon emplacements and an entire unit of dreadsuits was destroyed during the battle."

"Yes, it is regretful that we were unable to arrive in time to save them," Melanie replied sadly. "But I am glad that managed to drive them off this time."

"And that there weren't any bloody Emperors with them as well," the captain remarked dryly.

"Indeed. Now then, captain, perhaps we should attend to the wounded and inspect the damages properly?"

As the captain nodded, the defenders, who had been taking a moment to rest in relief, all stiffened as a deep thudding noise came from the distance. More followed and the men let out groans of despair before quickly scrambling back into position. Ari jumped into the trench as well, taking out her spear and transforming it into its sniper form and focussing her vision through the scope.

"Ah, crap…" Malik grumbled, lifting up his cannon and readying himself.

Melanie calmly turned around, speaking to Ari over her shoulder, "Ari, dear, what kind of Grimm is about to assault us?"

"Crimson Prince Gyuharn," Ari replied softly after a moment. "He's one hundred metres out, closing rapidly at a rate of seventeen metres per second. Arrival imminent." She glanced up at Melanie. "I think he's mad from the last time you encountered him; I can still see the burn marks."

"Thank you, sweet one," Melanie said serenely, beginning to walk forwards. "Captain, you and your men are to leave this to me; Gyuharn and I clearly have unfinished business."

"Copy that, ma'am," Malik nodded, lowering his weapon and gesturing for his soldiers to do the same. "Good luck."

"Luck will have nothing to do with this, captain; it will be simply skill and patience that shall win the day for either combatant."

Melanie stopped several metres from the trench and stood in the middle of a crater that had been caused earlier that day from one of the cannon emplacements. She took a deep breath, allowing herself a brief moment to relax, before taking a defensive stance, holding her left shield in front of her while the right shield was held loosely at her side.

"As my husband would say 'time to bring the heat of glory to the battle'," she chuckled to herself and activated the inferno dust that was imbued in her left shield, surrounding herself in an aura of flame.

As the flames appeared a gigantic, four legged centaur Grimm almost as tall as a two storey building came charging out of the forest, wielding an equally large halberd and shield. It was wearing crimson armour, with a red mane and tail. It's skull like mask, more of a helmet, was the usual bone white with one flaw; the entire right side of it, as well as most of the exposed flesh running down its neck, was burnt.

Seeing the Inheritor, Gyuharn pulled up short and stamped his hooves angrily, pointing its halberd at Melanie.

"Yes, I was wondering when you would be coming to pay me back for that," the Faunus nodded. "So how about we skip the preliminary banter and instead skip straight to the fight?"

Gyuharn bellowed in agreement, banging his halberd against his shield before charging straight for the Inheritor. As it neared her, the Grimm swung its weapon down towards her. Not even bothering to move, Melanie lazily lifted up her left shield and blocked the incoming blow, which failed to even make her flinch and sending a shockwave resonating from the impact.

"Don't you know that a lady is supposed to go first?" she remarked, smiling slightly at the rage Gyuharn exhibited. "For shame, sir."

With barely a pause, Melanie then kicked the halberd aside, leapt gracefully into the air and bashed her right shield into the Grimm's face. Using the momentum, she twisted in mid-air and followed the shield-bash with a spinning kick to the other side of Gyuharn's head.

Those watching let out whoops and hollers as the centaur Grimm went flying several metres to the side, stopping his impromptu flight by digging his halberd into the ground. The move cleaved a huge scar in the dirt but it served its purpose, Gyuharn snorting in anger as he steadied himself.

Unfortunately for him, Melanie wasn't about to let him off the hook since she was already pressing the attack, a now cold smile on her face as she appeared as if from nowhere right in front of the surprised Grimm.

"This time I'm going to finish our little feud," she growled, her purple eyes turning a golden colour as she held the centaur in place by suddenly impaling him through his torso with a giant spear. "And you are definitely not getting away!"

Leaping into the air, Melanie's entire body took on a metallic sheen. At the apex of her jump, hundreds of smaller spears materialised in the air behind her, hanging in place for a few seconds before following her as she hurtled down towards the pinned centaur.

Gyuharn raised his shield in an attempt to protect himself, but the impact from Melanie's body hitting it shattered it. Lurching to his knees, Gyuharn let out a pained scream as the spears torn his flesh to shreds. Under the onslaught, the once fierce Grimm was cut to ribbons, letting out a final wail of anger as it finally disintegrated.

Standing back up from where she had landed, Melanie gently dusted herself off and looked back at the puddle of black ooze where Gyuharn had once been.

"A good fight, Crimson Prince Gyuharn," she murmured to herself, a cold look in her eyes as she turned away. "May you be reborn in a better life."

With a final flick of her ears, the Inheritor walked back towards the defensive lines where Malik and his men were cheering her victory.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

 _And with that, the chapter is done. Hopefully this new format I'm trying is acceptable and if you would prefer it to actually be entire chapters to be dedicated to either the main cast or the other side feel free to say it._

 _Profile this time is on Ari Plume, the shyest and quietest member of the Inheritors, and her Seeker C-412._

 _ **Ari Plume 'Agent Talon'**_

 _ **Eagle Faunus, 16**_

 _ **Appearance: short, shoulder length tri-coloured hair (speckled blue, pink and red), green eyes and light brown skin.**_

 _ **Inheritor Abilities: (Gravity Void)- Allows Ari to affect and control gravity around herself, her allies or her enemies. She is also able to create gravity wells that can either draw in or repel small to large objects (and living things) in a small area. Her familiar is Gabriel the Relentless, an angelic being that can teleport and use the same gravity powers as his Inheritor. He wields a pair of golden chakrams that can phase through solid objects to reach their targets.**_

 _ **Semblance: Voidwalker/Eagle Form- Voidwalker allows Ari to create portals through another dimension that she (and only she) can travel through, while Eagle Form is exactly how it sounds; she is able to take on the form of an eagle (similar to how Raven and Qrow can turn into crows).**_

 _ **Weapon: Thorned Temptress (sniper-spear)- In sniper mode Ari's weapon can fire a single shot that has enough power to pierce through twenty inches of solid, reinforced concrete or in five-shot bursts that, while lacking the devastating punch of the single shot allows Ari to deal with large groups of enemies in a short amount of time (sniper mode has 25 shots per clip). In its spear form, Thorned Temptress generates and projects a localized gravity field that can attract or repel Ari's opponents.**_

 _ **Attire: Wears standard Faunus Grimmguard armour with a hooded black cloak and a blank dark purple mask. She also wears a necklace that is a family heirloom and once belonged to the original leader of her house.**_

 _ **Synthetic Intelligence Combat Assistant (Seeker) C-412 'Cain'**_

 _ **Appearance: A large crow with glowing blue feathers (sentinel mode), phoenix with similarly coloured plumage (combat mode).**_

 _ **Abilities: can link directly with the mask of his Inheritor, allowing her to see through both his eyes while looking though her scope at the same time. Can see in X-ray, night vision and heat vision (sentinel mode). In combat mode, can shroud himself in blue fire and shoot it out in all directions.**_

 _ **Armaments: (Sentinel mode)- a single shot ballistic cannon that emerges from his beak. (Combat mode)- fire based abilities.**_


End file.
